The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

A Brahmin gives Krishna the Message or Invitation for the Competition to Rukmini’s Svayamvara, from a Bhagavata Purana

A Brahmin gives Krishna the Message or Invitation for the Competition to Rukmini’s Svayamvara, from a Bhagavata Purana

c. 1650–60
Gum tempera and gold on paper
Page: 17.1 x 19.7 cm (6 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.)
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.133
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The letter in Krishna’s hand repeats the name of “Rama,” another incarnation of Vishnu.

Description

Sitting on a stool in a palatial setting, Krishna receives a letter, inviting him to participate in a ceremony called a svayamvara, in which an unmarried woman who has come of age selects a husband. Krishna will later elope with the princess Rukmini. This scene takes place in Krishna’s western palace of Dvaraka, by the ocean, which is depicted with waves and fish at the bottom of the page.
  • May 21, 1981
    (Sotheby’s NY, May 21, 1981, lot 130)
    September 21, 1995
    (Sotheby’s New York, NY, September 21, 1995, lot 281, sold to Ralph and Catherine Glynn Benkaim)
    1995-2001
    Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, by descent to Catherine Benkaim
    2001-2018
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2018-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.133