Sati ceremony
Painting
ca. 1800 (painted), ca. 1800 (made)
ca. 1800 (painted), ca. 1800 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The pictures made by Indian artists for the British in India are called Company paintings. This one depicts the practice of sati (suttee) or widow-burning. The word is the Sanskrit for 'good woman' or 'true wife'. It was applied to the Hindu widow who makes the supreme sacrifice by following her husband onto the funeral pyre. Although suppressed in the 19th century, isolated instances of sati still occur in India even today.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Sati ceremony (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Opaque watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Painting; gouache, Sati Ceremony, Tanjore, 1800 |
| Physical description | Sati ceremony: self-immolation of a Hindu widow, with men and women mourning by a river. One of ten paintings depicting festivals. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | Women fallen in fire on account of the Husband Dead (Inscription; decoration; English; Roman) |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | The pictures made by Indian artists for the British in India are called Company paintings. This one depicts the practice of sati (suttee) or widow-burning. The word is the Sanskrit for 'good woman' or 'true wife'. It was applied to the Hindu widow who makes the supreme sacrifice by following her husband onto the funeral pyre. Although suppressed in the 19th century, isolated instances of sati still occur in India even today. |
| Bibliographic reference | Archer, Mildred. Company Paintings Indian Paintings of the British period
Victoria and Albert Museum Indian Series London: Victoria and Albert Museum, Maplin Publishing, 1992, 54 p. ISBN 0944142303 |
| Other number | 8805 - Previous number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | AL.8805 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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