Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur
British Museum, until 23 August
Part of the Indian Summer season of events sponsored by HSBC
I don’t know when I last enjoyed an exhibition more. I had an idea from the publicity material what I might be seeing, but the reality of it is a thousand times lovelier. Many of us are familiar with Indian miniatures, but this exhibition consists mostly of large paintings done between the 17th and 19th centuries. Made for the northern Indian court of Jodhpur (the royal capital of Marwar), none of the 54 paintings on show has ever been seen before in Europe. The large format is specific to the Jodhpur region and not found elsewhere in Rajasthan, and the subjects are either in celebration of court life or concerned with metaphysical speculation.
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