Collection
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Title
Akura, having returned from Hastinapura, meets with the blue-skinned Krishna and his companions Balarama and Uddhava, from a dispersed series of the Bhagavata Purana
circa 1520-1530
Artists
Unknown Artist
About
This folio is from the earliest known illustrated manuscript of the Bhagavata Purana, a popular text of 18 000 verses composed around the year 900. The verses speak about the Hindu deity Vishnu, in particular, his form as the god Krishna. This illustration relates to events in Book 10 when Akura, having returned from Hastinapura, meets with the blue-skinned Krishna and his companions Balarama and Uddhava.
Paintings from this manuscript exemplify the 16th-century Chaurapanchasika style, which is characterised by bold primary colours applied in clearly bound sections, rich patterns contrasting with flat, unpatterned areas, and figures in strict profile enlivened by exaggerated gestures and crisp, sharply pointed drapery.
Details
Date
circa 1520-1530
Materials used
opaque watercolour (gouache) on paper
Dimensions
17.9 x 23.6 cm
Credit
Purchased 2007
Location
Not on display
Accession number
286.2007
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Exhibition history
Intimate Encounters: Indian paintings from Australian collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Feb 2007–04 May 2007
One hundred flowers (2011), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Sep 2011–15 Jan 2012
Referenced in 4 publications
Bibliography
Yvonne Tan, Asian Art Newspaper, 'Intimate Encounters, Indian Paintings from Australian Collections', London, Apr 2008, 13 (illus.).
Analiese Treacy and Carolyn Murphy, 2008 AICCM Book, Paper and Photographic Materials Symposium, ‘Indian miniature paintings and their margins', unpaginated., Australia, 2008, (illus.).
Look, Sydney, Feb 2008, cover (colour illus.); 9 (colour illus.).
An analysis and reconstruction of the dispersed Bhagavata Purana from the Caurapancasika group, Chicago, 1984, 211, 355 (illus.).