Woman Addressing a Peacock: Gujari Ragini of Megh, from a Ragamala
Gujari Ragini, a musical mode, is personified as the one who sings songs praising her beloved on experiencing pangs of separation. She sits on a throne outside a well-appointed chamber and holds her stringed instrument, the vina, in her right hand. Her songs have attracted a male peacock who dances to the tunes she sings. A pair of yellow birds take flight in the background.
Colors in this work
Details
- Artist
- Unknown artist
- Date
- c. 1680
- Dimensions
- miniature: height 0.242 m, width 0.178 m; page: height 0.312 m, width 0.248 m
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Related to Music Metadata · 99%
The catalog describes Gujari Ragini as a musical mode personified as a woman singing while holding a vina; the image shows the woman and stringed instrument.
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Personification Metadata · 99%
The catalog explicitly identifies Gujari Ragini as a personified musical mode represented by the female figure.
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Animals Both · 99%
A male peacock with an expanded patterned tail and two yellow birds in flight are unmistakable elements of the scene and are also identified in the catalog description.
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Flora Visual · 98%
Large banana-like leaves, flowering trees, and delicate flowering branches occupy the garden area behind and above the architectural setting.
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Human Figure Both · 99%
A prominently rendered seated woman forms the central human subject, and the catalog identifies her as the personification of Gujari Ragini.
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Implied Narrative Both · 97%
The image presents an enacted encounter between the woman and peacock, while the catalog supplies the narrative of her singing and the peacock dancing in response.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Both · 99%
The Cleveland Museum of Art classifies the work as a painting, and the image shows a finely detailed painted miniature within a bordered page.
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Work on Paper Both · 99%
The catalog identifies gum tempera and gold on paper; the image visibly presents a painted page with paper support and metallic-looking details.
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Miniature and Small-Scale Paintings Both · 99%
The catalog supplies miniature dimensions of approximately 24.2 by 17.8 cm, and the image shows the intricate detail and compact page format of a small-scale miniature painting.
Time Periods
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17th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the work to circa 1680, within the seventeenth century.
Geographic Regions
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Indian Art Metadata · 97%
The stated place of origin is northwestern India, Rajasthan, within the Rajput Kingdom of Bundi or Raghogarh.
Source & rights
Unknown artist. Woman Addressing a Peacock: Gujari Ragini of Megh, from a Ragamala. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 5,546 × 7,006 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available