mini 03

INDIAN MINIATURE. Indian miniature paintings have a long tradition in the subcontinent for centuries. Various schools and styles have emerged from differentregions that are now recognised as genres of painting in their own right. A miniature painting is a small format artwork, usually to be held inhand or produced as folios to be kept in albums and viewed at a close range. The present rendition is a famous painting from the Kishangarh School titled Bani Thani. She was a singer and poet in the courts of king Savant Singh in the mid-eighteenth century. This work is considered iconic for it was not common for a true portrait of a female to be made in the painting ateliers of the Rajput and Mughal rulers. Certainly, women were shown in miniatures, but a portrait of a real person was uncommon and hard to come by. The same convention was not followed for male portraits. Bani Thani was shown as an idealised beauty. The work here is enhanced with gold foil work in the architectural arches and delicate touch ups in the ornamental features of the portrait. The diaphanous veil, minute detailing and superiorshading point to the skill of the artist.