The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Horizontally oriented manuscript page depicting women, all in profile, with light to medium skin tones surrounding the blue-skinned god, Krishna, among a dark blue background with white, concentric circles suggesting water. Above, in red boxes against a light blue sky, woman-like beings lower red and white garlands into the water, one beating on a drum. The brown edges of the paper are jagged with many of the faces of the women worn away.

Krishna sporting with the gopis in the Jumna River, from a Bhagavata Purana

c. 1525–40

Northern India

Gum tempera and ink on paper
Overall: 16.5 x 22.2 cm (6 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas 1971.171
Location: 242B Indian Painting

Did You Know?

This page is from one of the earliest surviving illustrated Hindu manuscripts on the life of Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu.

Description

Abstract concentric circles depict water churned up by the gopis, or cowherd women, who are swimming and playing with joy and abandon. In their midst, the blue-skinned Krishna reaches for a gopi’s breast. Their love play is celebrated by celestial beings in the sky who offer flower garlands and beat on a drum. Every figure’s face is shown in profile—a hallmark of Indian painting of the early 1500s perpetuated by artists wishing to emphasize Indian rather than Persian depictions of the human form.
  • Sandor L. Feldman, Washington, DC
    ?–1971
    Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1971–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • P. Chandra, The Ṭūṭī-nāma: complete colour facsimile edition in original size of the manuscript in possession of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1976. Reproduced: volume 2, plate 79.
    Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. Mentioned: p. 25, no. 12.
    Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. cat. 8ii
  • Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Supernatural Love - Indian Gallery 242 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 1-September 9, 2019).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (August 18, 2004-May 23, 2005).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (August 13, 2003-February 18, 2004).
    Dance of the Gods: Indian Art Inspired by Music. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-December 8, 1996).
    The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 19, 1976); The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL (January 12-February 27, 1977).
  • {{cite web|title=Krishna sporting with the gopis in the Jumna River, from a Bhagavata Purana|url=false|author=|year=c. 1525–40|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.171