The album was produced for Antoine-Louis-Henri Polier de Bottens (1741–1795) between
1780 and 1787 in Lucknow (Awadh, today's Uttar Pradesh). After a stay of 30 years
in India, Polier returned to Europe, embarking from Calcutta (Kolkata) in January
1788. The floral decoration of the margins is typical of Polier's workshop in Lucknow. The
miniatures illustrate six male melody types (rāgas), to each of which five female
melody types (rāginīs) are assigned, making a total "garland" (mālā) of 36 musical
moods.
India’s Fabled City : The Art of Courtly Luknow / Stephen Markel mit Tushara Bindu
Gude (eds.). München et al. : DelMonico/Prestel, 2010. [f. 11 (26) = cat.no. 124] *
Waldschmidt, Ernst and Rose Leonore: Miniatures of Musical Inspiration in the Collection of the Berlin Museum of Indian
Art, Part II : Rāgamālā-Pictures from Northern India and the Deccan (Veröffentlichungen
des Museums für Indische Kunst Berlin, vol. 3). Berlin : Museum für Indische Kunst,
1975. [ = List I, No. 30 and Appendix II, § 281-284] *
Waldschmidt, Ernst: Londoner Entsprechungen zu einer Berliner Serie musikinspirierter indischer Miniaturen. In: Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen : I. Philologisch-historische
Klasse 7 (1962), pp. 175-199.
acquired by the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett from the 12th Duke of Hamilton, handed
over to the Königliche Museum für Völkerkunde (Royal Museum of Ethnology) in 1891
