This illustration comes from the Rasikapriya, a celebrated love poem composed in 1591 by Keshavdas (1555–1617), the court poet of the Rajas of Orchha, Madhukar Shah (r. 1554–1592) and Bir Singh Deo (r. 1605–1627). The work is in verse in Braj Bhasha, producing poetry that is both secular and devotional, blending the Hindu ideal of devotion (bhakti) and aesthetic sensibility. The Rasikapriya describes archetypal male and female lovers, heroes and heroines called nayakas and nayikas, focusing on Radha and Krishna as the Divine Lovers.
This folio possibly depicts Labdha-Pati Nayika—the bride who is adored and obeyed by all the members of her husband's household. Krishna holds up his hands in respectful salutation of his bride. She is adorned in jewellery and holds up her hand to apply the tilak to her husband's forehead. They sit within a domed pavilion, against a deep red background. A sakhi (confidante) and a dutika (messenger) outside remark on the perfect union of the happy couple. A lone monkey in the upper corner symbolises the time that Krishna spent alone in the forest in faithful solitude. Facing it is a makara head, attached to the pavilion wall and holding a tall flag in its gaping mouth.
This style of painting in the 17th century has generally been called 'Malwa painting', taking its name from the Malwa region in the south-east of Rajasthan. With its simple yet boldly colourful palette and geometric style, it retains many features of the local Early Rajput style predating the Mughal conquest. However, recent scholarship has suggested the princely court of Orchha in Bundelkhand, a wealthy and fertile part of Madhya Pradesh, rather than Malwa, as a place of origin for this series, where it may have been executed c. 1615, a generation earlier than previously thought (Konrad Seitz, Orchha, Datia, Panna: Miniaturen von den rajputischen Höfen Bundelkhands (1580–1820), 2 vols, Köln, 2015, pp. 124–239). Mughal influence started permeating the arts of Orchha and neighbouring Datia in the early 17th century, visible here, for instance, in the type of turban adorned with a feather worn by Krishna. As Keshavdas himself was from the Orchha region, this may too explain why his Rasikapriya was illustrated there shortly after its creation.
The series comprises 300 images, on folios that were loosely stacked and placed between book covers but not bound. This folio directly follows one that is held in the Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection, Bad Godesberg (folio 51, ibid., no. 5.5, pp. 140–141). Other folios are kept in public and private institutions around the world, including the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. EA2012.200, 201, 202), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (inv. M.80.223.6).
