Artwork Page for Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto); Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso)

Details / Information for Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto); Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso)

Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto); Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso)

c. 1890

Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat

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Medium
Gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper; Woodcut, hand colored with gum tempera
Measurements
Secondary Support: 48.5 x 29.9 cm (19 1/8 x 11 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward 2003.114
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

In the image on the recto taken from both popular accounts and the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna has stolen the clothes of cowgirls (gopis) who are bathing in the Yamuna River, a tributary of the Ganges River. He refuses to return their clothes, the purple saris seen hanging high in the tree, until they come out and bow to him with folded palms. Krishna, a cowherder, is holding a flute, which he uses to lure them away.
A horizontally oriented gum tempera and graphite painting sits beside a woodcut. On our left, Krishna, with medium-dark blue skin tone, sits in a stylized tree clutching pink cloth. Below, two women with medium-light yellow skin tones reach up from blue water. On our right, ten panels in a grid depict figures with varied skin tones, including green and light. Some figures have animal heads or multiple arms, set within decorative borders.

Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto); Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso)

c. 1890

Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat

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