Rajasthani

One of the two influential “schools” of
Indian miniature painting, the other
being the Pahari. Distinctions between
the two schools are largely geographical
and thus somewhat arbitrary, since the
547
Rajasthani
A miniature painting in the
Rajasthani style, circa 1730.
Basohli paintings of the Pahari school
are stylistically closer to those of
Rajasthan than to works in the later
Pahari style.
The Rajasthani was the earliest
developed school; it flourished in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in
the small kingdoms of the Malwa region
such as Mandu, and in the kingdoms
that now comprise regions in modern
Rajasthan—particularly Bundi, Kota,
and Mewar, but also Jaipur and
Bikaner. The Rajasthani style is generally characterized by a flat perspective
and by visual power derived from vivid
colors, bands of which often serve as a
backdrop to the painting. For further
information see W. G. Archer, Indian
Painting, 1957.