Rich Lady Playing a Tanapura

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

In her late forties, the oval faced lady with visible make-up of the face – lampblack applied to her eyes, shaded eye-lids and the like, and stylistically dressed hair with a protuberance on the top, and every section of her coiffure adorned with elaborate head-ornaments: a forehead pendant, laces defining hair-parting, hair-contours and coiffure’s top knot, and side-pins with pearl-hangings, has been portrayed as seated on the ground with ‘tanapura’ in her front. She is seated with her left leg turned backwards, while her right, upwards, with knee raised for supporting the ‘tanapura’ upon it. With its head laid on the ground, and arm, held upwards, she is holding the instrument with her left hand, while with her right, she is moving its strings.

The damsel has been painted as wearing a red expensive kim-khava sari woven with rich silk and gold threads and with a heavy gold border, pallu – end-part, and buti all over the field, and a green silk blouse with elaborate gold work used for defining the sleeve-ends and check-design. As wide and lavish is the range of ornaments that she is putting on her person. Her jewellery made of gold and inlaid with precious stones includes as many as seven necklaces ranging from a large and heavy gold-coin locket to a gold ‘satalara’ – seven-stringed necklace, and another, comprising gold amulets. Apart, she is wearing heavy gold rings on her arms, wrists and fingers, and quite massive and exotic ear-ornaments.

Her appearance, with all her splendour, rich costume and lavish jewellery, deludes the viewing eye to take her as a royal personage, especially when music was considered all through the ancient and medieval period as a desirable, if not essential, requirement of an accomplished royal woman. Annals related to many of them hail them as great musicians adept especially in stringed instruments like ‘vina’. Thus, in view of her splendour the feudal links of the portrayed lady seem to be certain; though with greater certainty her status appears to be one of a courtesan, not one by royal birth. The artist has shown tremendous skill in discovering her class-identity as a courtesan.

The portrayed lady is playing on a ‘tanapura’, an instrument of the head-lady of a brothel, not on ‘vina’, the instrument of gods-goddesses, celestial beings and kings and queens. As the tradition has it, in a brothel its head lady usually held a ‘tanapura’ in her hands when a younger member of the house performed a dance for guests. As reveals her posture, the lady on ‘tanapura’ seems to be performing for a gathering, not for her own delight, as was invariably the objective of a royal lady’s performance. A princess or a queen would not perform for anyone other than herself. The kind of costume and the volume of jewellery of the lady on ‘tanapura’, as also the kind of make-up, suggest that for her the moment is of the most formal kind. A royal lady, a princess or a queen, would take a lyre in her hands only in her most intimate moments.

This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.

Free Shipping. Delivered by to all international destinations within 3 to 5 days, fully insured.

Oil painting technique – India centric

Oil painting is the most interesting technique in art. Unlike other paintings or art forms, oil painting is a process in which colored pigments are painted on the canvas with a drying oil medium as a binder. This medium helps colors blend beautifully to create layers and also makes them appear rich and dense. Several varieties of oil are used in this painting such as sunflower oil, linseed oil, etc., and depending on the quality of the oil, a particular consistency of the paint is developed. With the use of an oil medium, the painting gets a natural sheen on the surface which appears extremely attractive. India is famous for its old tradition of making oil paintings. This art form was brought by Europeans in the 18th century and is now practiced by almost all well-known artists. Nirmal, a small tribal town in the state of Telangana is the center of traditional oil paintings in India where the local people practice it with dedication. Most Indian artists still use the traditional technique of oil painting.

Canvas of the required size is prepared

The artists use either a wood panel or canvas made from linen or cotton. Sometimes the canvas is stretched onto the wooden frame to form a solid base, or cardboard may be used. The canvas is coated with a layer of white paint or chalk mixed with animal glue. This mixture is then smoothed and dried to form a uniform, textured surface. The wooden panel is more expensive and heavier but its solidity is an advantage in making detailed paintings with ease.

Sketch is drawn on the canvas

Now the artist starts to draw the subject of the painting on the canvas using the actual charcoal or a charcoal pencil. Sometimes, he may sketch with thinned paint as well.

Oil paint is applied using paint brushes or palette knives

Now that the rough sketch is prepared, the artist is now ready to paint. Oil paint, a special paint that contains particles of pigments suspended in a drying oil (usually linseed oil), is again mixed with oil to make it thinner for applying it on the canvas. Proper consistency of the paint is maintained to avoid its breakage. The most important rule for the application of oil paint is “Fat over lean” in which the first layer of paint is thin and later, thicker layers are applied. This means that each additional layer of paint contains more oil. This results in getting a stable paint film. Traditionally, paint was applied using paint brushes but now the artists also use palette knives to create crisp strokes. To paint using this technique, the edge of the palette knife is used to create textured strokes that appear different from that of a paintbrush. Sometimes, oil paints are blended simply using fingers for getting the desired gradation.

Smaller oil paintings, with very fine detail, are relatively easier to paint than larger ones. The most attractive feature of these paintings is the natural shiny appearance that is obtained on the surface because of the use of oil paint. The blending of colors looks extremely realistic and this is the reason why oil paintings are loved by everyone throughout the world.