The Court of Ravana in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2019

"The Court of Ravana", Folio from a Ramayana
ca. 1605


Object Details

Title: "The Court of Ravana", Folio from a Ramayana

Date: ca. 1605

Geography: Attributed to India

Medium: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Dimensions: Painting: H. 10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm)
W. 7 7/16 in. (18.9 cm)
Page: H. 10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm)
W. 7 7/16 in. (18.9 cm)
Mat: H. 19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm)
W. 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)

Classification: Codices

Credit Line: Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky Fund, 2002

Accession Number: 2002.505


The page comes from a copy of the Ramayana probably made for the Mughal courtier Bir Singh Deo of Datia. Inspired by fifteenth-century Indian and Persian painting, this folio is unique from the others in this manuscript. The array of demon courtiers attending the ten-headed demon-king Ravana come right out of Safavid paintings of divs, while the ornament of the pavilion resembles the Persian tile decoration found in paintings from Shiraz.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/454358