Santhal Pat or Story Scroll

Flowering tree spreads over rows of women in long skirts, each drawn with a gentle tilt.

This painted pat or story scroll is Santhal, from Bihar / Jharkhand, Bihar, India, and dates to the 19th or mid 20th century. It is painted paper. A pat is a narrative scroll painting, and in eastern India such scrolls have traditionally been unrolled by a performer who sings the story as each panel is shown. A large tree with a bright red flower at the crown rises in the middle and a squiggly mark sits in the bottom corner. Warm cream paper. It is 7 inches wide and 21 deep.

Orderly figures, one flamboyant tree, and a respectable skirt.