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Celebrations of Krishna's Birth, from a Bhagavata Purana, c. 1725–30

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Celebrations of Krishna's Birth, from a Bhagavata Puranac. 1725–30

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Image: 22.9 x 15.2 cm (9 x 6 in.); with mat: 49 x 36.3 cm (19 5/16 x 14 5/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art · 1988.70

The Hindu kingdom of Mankot in the western foothills of the Himalayas developed a bold style of painting in which figures in strict profile stand out against an intense yellow ground. More about this work

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Format

Archival pigment inks on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, a 308 gsm cotton paper, with a white border.

Size

At this size the museum's file prints at 193 ppi: sharp at arm's length, a little softer than the smaller sizes up close.

Size
16 × 20 in · image 13¼ × 17½
Paper
Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gsm
Price
$56

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About this work

The Hindu kingdom of Mankot in the western foothills of the Himalayas developed a bold style of painting in which figures in strict profile stand out against an intense yellow ground. Musicians enthusiastically proclaim the arrival of infant Krishna at the village of Vraj, where he was brought as a newborn to grow to maturity in safety among the cowherders. He was secreted away from the evil king Kamsa who wanted to murder the child on account of a prophecy that foretold his own death by Krishna. Krishna’s adoptive father Nanda, the village headmaster, receives tufts of grass as tokens of congratulations from a well-wisher, while a soldier salutes him.

Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

How it was made

Opaque watercolour
Watercolour made opaque with white or chalk and laid in flat, even layers. Persian and Indian painters ground their colours from minerals, applied them with the finest brushes and burnished the finished page.
Gold ground
Gold leaf laid over a red clay and burnished to a mirror shine, often tooled with punches so it flickers in candlelight. Behind sacred figures it stands for heavenly light.
Tempera
Pigment bound with egg yolk. It dries in minutes and can’t be blended wet, so painters built up form with fine, hatched strokes. It was Europe’s main panel technique before oil.
Rights and the museum’s record

Public domain. The Cleveland Museum of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.

Object number
1988.70
Credit
Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
Type
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
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