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Krishna

Painting
ca. 1660 - ca. 1670 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Basohli (made)

Painting, in opaque watercolour on paper, Krishna in a deep yellow dhoti in conversation with a companion. He sits leaning against an empty bed which symbolises the absence of Radha.


Object details

Categories
Paintings
Hinduism
Religion
Bonita Trust Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project
Object type
Painting
TitleKrishna (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Painted in opaque watercolour on paper
Opaque Watercolour
Paint
Paper
Painted
Brief description
Painting, lonely Krishna, opaque watercolour on paper, Basohli, ca. 1660-1670
Physical description
Painting, in opaque watercolour on paper, Krishna in a deep yellow dhoti in conversation with a companion. He sits leaning against an empty bed which symbolises the absence of Radha.
Dimensions
  • Height: 231mm (maximum)
  • Width: 320mm (maximum)
  • Image inside red border height: 177mm
  • Image inside red border width: 261mm (maximum)
Object irregular in shape, with red border with thin silver margin and white rules. 19/06/2013 dimensions measured as part of Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project 2013.
Content description
Krishna in a deep yellow dhoti in conversation with a companion. He sits leaning against an empty bed which symbolises the absence of Radha.
Marks and inscriptions
  • (handwritten in Takri at top of object; dated 1695)
    Translation
    'he whose pati (literally husband, but here by implication, mistress) is away'
    Transliteration
    'parokhat pati naek'
  • '110' (handwritten in Takri on left border)
  • (handwritten in Sanskrit on reverse of object; translation by Randhawa and Bhambri, 1967. Verse from the Rasamanjari.)
    Translation
    'My sweet-heart, whose thighs are like plantains, eyes like lotus, locks of hair like saivala, face like the moon, speech like nectar, waist like a lotus stalk, navel like a pit, fold in the belly like a stream and hands like leaves - swells in my heart. Alas! there is still no abatement of the fever in my heart.'
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of Lady Rothenstein and Art Fund
Object history
|From a series by the painter Devidasa.
Rothenstein collection.
Subjects depicted
Deity
Bed
Krishna
Bibliographic reference
Indian paintings from the Punjab Hills : a survey and history of Pahari miniature painting / by W. G. Archer ; foreword by Sherman E. Lee. London :Delhi: Sotheby Parke Bernet ;Oxford University Press, 1973 Number: 0856670022 p. 37. cat. no. 4
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
IS.120-1951

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Record createdJuly 20, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O41804/krishna-painting-unknown/
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