The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 6, 2025

Horizontally oriented drawing with a central row of seated men, four on each side, with light to medium-light skin tones, facing each other. All have white or black facial hair and wear sheer garments except for the man on our central right, wearing a dark green robe patterned with red dots encircled by white dots. A red-orange band runs behind the men, a row of trees branching out from it into an upper dark blue band.

Nanda and the elders, page from a Bhagavata Purana

c. 1525–40

Northern India

Gum tempera and ink on paper
Overall: 16.3 x 21.5 cm (6 7/16 x 8 7/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1960.53
Location: 242B Indian Painting

Description

In a page from a manuscript about the life of the Hindu god Krishna, Krishna’s foster father, wearing green, confers about moving their community to a new location. Their current village has been beset by demons sent by the evil king to kill Krishna.

Typical of South Asian compositions of the early 1500s, figures and other elements are arranged in horizontal rows. Above, in the story of an encounter between a gardener and a merchant’s daughter who wants a rose, we see use of the same Mughal convention, shown with a more natural conceptualization of space. Mughal compositions were often based on earlier illustrations.
  • ?–1960
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1960–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Archer, W. G. "Rajput Painting: Passionate Image of India." Art News 59, no. 8 (December 1960): 28.
    Lee, Sherman E. and George Montgomery. Rajput Painting; with an introductory essay and catalogue notes. New York: Asia House, 1960. Reproduced: p. 15; plate 3(a).
    Sherman E. Lee. A History of Far Eastern Art. 5th edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, and New York: Prentice Hall, Inc. and Harry Abrams, Inc., 1964. Reproduced: p. 213, colorplate 22.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 236 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 236 archive.org
    Milo Cleveland Beach, "The Context of Raiput Painting." Ars Orientalis 10 (1975): 13. Reproduced: fig. 5
    Regina Hickmann, Heinz Mode, and Siegfried Mahn. Miniaturen,Volks- und Gegenwartskunst Indiens. Leipzig: Ved E. A. Seemann Verlag, 1976. Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 32–40, pl. 17.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 303 archive.org
    Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 8i
  • Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 20-August 18, 2004).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 4-August 5, 2003).
    Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).
    Rajput Painting. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 22, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=Nanda and the elders, page from a Bhagavata Purana|url=false|author=|year=c. 1525–40|access-date=06 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.53