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Ragamala illustration. Lalit Ragini. Artist's prepartory brush drawing on paper. Bundi, circa 1680. 21.5cm by 15.5cm

A brush-drawn preparatory sketch from Bundi, illustrating Lalit Ragini, in which a lord with garlands leaves a lady in a bedchamber.  Dating from around 1680, we see a scene typical of the Bundi kalam or school of this time, the ragini's subjects playing out the action before a backdrop of kiosks featuring prominently on the rooftops of tightly clustered buildings, with plantain and taller trees inbetween.  The top of each kiosk protrudes onto the (blank) text panel at the picture's top, another typical feature of Bundi at this time.  This sketch is early in the development of the Bundi kalam, so that the lord's turban still retains the Mughal style, the Bundi version still to appear.