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Desakar Ragini
Rajput
Mughal period
About 1760
Object Place: Bundi or Kota, Rajasthan, Northern India
Medium/Technique
Ink, color, gold and tin on paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 33.8 × 24.1 cm (13 5/16 × 9 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of John Goelet
Accession Number67.796
CollectionsAsia
ClassificationsPaintings
Books and manuscripts
Books and manuscripts
This painting belongs to a set of ragamalas (paintings of ragas or Indian musical modes) that were produced in the Rajput kingdom of Bundi or Kota in the 18th century. Because the MFA collection holds fifteen paintings from the series, it is widely known as the “Boston Ragamala." The fifteen paintings in the MFA are 66.164, 67.793–804 and 2019.717-718.
InscriptionsObverse: at top, in Devanagari: "Desakar, Ragini of Hindola: to be sung in the first quarter of the day." Number 8. On reverse: collector's seal, not legible - this is the only painting of the set in which the seal has not been effaced.
ProvenanceBy 1965, Indian dealer, Madras or Calcutta, India; 1965, purchased by John Goelet, New York, NY; 1967, gift of Goelet to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 13, 1967)