Johnson 44,1-42

J.44,1-42

Forty-two paintings comprising a ‘ragamala’ series, arranged according to a special system.

Commissioned by Richard Johnson, Lucknow, c.1780-82.

Richard Johnson Collection. Purchased 1807.

Inscribed with identification and descriptions in Persian.

Drawings with some water-colour; borders of dark blue sprinkled with gold; outer margins mottled red.

250 by 172 mm, including text panel; page 365 by 264 mm.

Published: Ebeling (1973), 214, no.96; Waldschmidt (1975), 542, no.36.

Note: These pictures are the product of an atelier at Lucknow which also produced the British Library series, Add.MS.21934, containing six examples signed by the artists Bahadur Singh, Girdharilal and Sital Das (Gangoly (1935), II, pls XXIII, XXXI, LII, LXV, LXXVIII and LXLI). Each of the six British Library pictures is of the same composition as its counterpart in Johnson Album 44, and it would seem that the two series were copied one from the other or from a common model. The Hindi text written above the British Library pictures is by the poet Piyari Rangalal. Two other pictures from the series are in the Bodleian Library, Or.B.2, ff.44 and 45 (Randle (1946). The present whereabouts of the remainder of the British Library series is not known, but it would be fair to predict that the compositions would follow precisely those of Album 44.

Above each drawing of Album 44 is a panel in which is written a Persian description in black. These are not directly based on Piyari Ranglal’s verses of the British Library set, but are brief descriptions of the pictures with some reference to the mood involved and the time of day appropriate. In most cases the pictures have been numbered in the order in which they appear below; these numbers are written at the top of the picture in black and are repeated in red in the panel above. The series was contained in a contemporary binding of red leather (preserved separately) in which a list of contents has been written in Persian on one of the fly-leaves. The titles according to the list of contents are in most cases written above each drawing in red ink, and it is from these inscriptions that the titles of these unusual ‘raginis’ have been taken. A few of the pictures have been repaired or made up in patch-work fashion.