Radha thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Radha

Painting
ca. 1660 - ca. 1670 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Painting, in opaque watercolour and gold on paper, illustration to the Rasamanjari. Radha is in conversation with a female companion (sakhi). She wears red striped trousers and a golden skirt and veil. Her companion is richly bedecked, dressed in an orange-red skirt, yellow bodice and blue veil. The wall of the chamber is pale blue with three silver alcoves, one containing red apples; a red curtain drawn up from the ceiling. Chocolate-brown pillars, plinth at base (with projecting shapes), bright yellow roof. To the left, a white annexe, with a small flight of stairs leading to a narrow crimson door. Dark green background.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleRadha (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Painted in opaque watercolour and gold on paper, with applied beetle-wing cases to represent jewellery.
Brief description
Painting, Radha confides in companion, Rasamanjari illustration, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Basohli, ca. 1660-1670
Physical description
Painting, in opaque watercolour and gold on paper, illustration to the Rasamanjari. Radha is in conversation with a female companion (sakhi). She wears red striped trousers and a golden skirt and veil. Her companion is richly bedecked, dressed in an orange-red skirt, yellow bodice and blue veil. The wall of the chamber is pale blue with three silver alcoves, one containing red apples; a red curtain drawn up from the ceiling. Chocolate-brown pillars, plinth at base (with projecting shapes), bright yellow roof. To the left, a white annexe, with a small flight of stairs leading to a narrow crimson door. Dark green background.
Dimensions
  • With border height: 235mm
  • Width: 264mm
  • Height: 178mm
  • With border width: 324mm
Red border with thin silver margin, whote rules and shaded surround, a group of turrets project into the upper border.
Content description
Radha in conversation with a female companion.
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • (written in Takri at top)
    Translation
    'love proud'
    Transliteration
    'prem garivata'
  • (written in Takri on left border)
    Transliteration
    '33'
  • [verse from the Rasamanjari] (written in Sanskrit on reverse of object; translation by Randhawa and Bhambri (1967))
    Translation
    'O sakhi! I am unable to say how lucky you are, for your lover adorns your body with jewel-studded ornaments. But my beloved, afraid even of a slight interruption in his gazing at me, does not decorate me'
Object history
From the collection of Mr. Michael Rothenstein; IS.46 to 73-1953 were purchased for £300.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Indian paintings from the Punjab Hills : a survey and history of Pahari miniature painting / by W. G. Archer ; foreword by Sherman E. Lee. London :Delhi: Sotheby Parke Bernet ;Oxford University Press, 1973 Number: 0856670022 p. 37, cat. no. 4 ix
Collection
Accession number
IS.49-1953

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Record createdJuly 14, 2000
Record URL
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