Unknown Artist
- Title
- Lotus-clad Radha and Krishna
- Place of origin
-
Mankot →
Punjab Hills →
India
- Year
- circa 1700-1710
- Media categories
- Miniature, Painting, Watercolour
- Materials used
- opaque watercolour (gouache) on paper
- Dimensions
-
21.9 x 16.2cm image; 28.6 x 21.3 cm sheet
- Credit
- Purchased 2007
- Accession number
- 218.2007
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
This painting shows the dark-skinned Hindu god Krishna and his beloved Radha. Clad in pink lotus petals, they gaze tenderly at one another. The intense passion Radha feels for Krishna is a metaphor for a devotee’s desire for union with the divine. This work can be interpreted as an intimate moment of lovers at play, as well as a reference to the common practice of 'flower dressing’ (phulsajya) when religious images are adoringly dressed. The heavily outlined, elongated eyes and somewhat fleshy chins of the figures are typical features of early 18th-century Mankot painting.
Asian Art Department, AGNSW, September 2011.
- Bibliography (3)
-
'Love amongst the lotuses' by Chaya Chandrasekhar, pg. 15., Look Aug 2007, Aug 2007, 15 (colour illus.).
Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 2007 2007, 2007, 7 (colour illus.).
Carol Cains (Australia) (Author), Krishna: love and devotion, Victoria, 2007, 14-17. General reference
- Exhibition history (2)
-
Intimate Encounters: Indian paintings from Australian collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 22 Feb 2007–04 May 2007.
One hundred flowers (2011), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 01 Sep 2011–15 Jan 2012.
