Four-armed goddess, with hearts in margin

1900s

Eastern India, Bihar, Mithila region

Medium

ink and color on paper

Measurements

Overall: 36.2 x 27 cm (14 1/4 x 10 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Pamela Elizabeth Ward in loving memory of her parents, William E. and Evelyn Svec Ward 2005.86

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Village women of rural northeastern India create the distinctive paintings known as "Madhubani."

Description

This goddess holds a lotus flower and a discus, along with two other unidentified objects. Historically, Madhubani paintings were murals created with brushes made of bamboo and cotton. They ornamented domestic spaces on the occasion of a festival or rite of passage in a woman's life, such as a birth or a wedding. In the wake of a drought in 1966, the All India Handicrafts Board encouraged women of the Mithila region make paintings on paper, so they could sell them and help support their communities.