The Earth Goddess Returns the Stolen Goods to Krishna and Pays Homage to Him

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The Earth Goddess Returns the Stolen Goods to Krishna and Pays Homage to Him

c. 1525-1540

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

This page comes from the earliest known illustrated series of the Bhagavata Purana, an influential Hindu poem written in Sanskrit that praises the god Vishnu and describes his many incarnations. Undoubtedly the god's most compelling form is Krishna, who is usually shown with blue skin. In the indigenous style of Indian painting represented by this work, different episodes in a story, sometimes with the same characters, may appear together on one page. Each episode, however, has its own flat, solid-colored background; the most important are usually set against bright red. The full, curving hips, bold eye, and angular face of the woman at the center is a motif carried into Mughal painting by the Indian artists who joined Emperor Akbar's imperial atelier.

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Object Details

Title:

The Earth Goddess Returns the Stolen Goods to Krishna and Pays Homage to Him
Page from an dispersed series of the Bhagavata Purana

Date:

c. 1525-1540

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

Medium:

Opaque watercolor on paper

Dimensions:

Image: 5 13/16 × 8 1/2 inches (14.8 × 21.6 cm) Sheet: 7 1/16 × 9 1/4 inches (17.9 × 23.5 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

125th Anniversary Acquisition. Alvin O. Bellak Collection, 2004

Accession Number:

2004-149-8

Geography:

Made in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-Agra Region, India, Asia

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Currently not on view