The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Circular plate with cloisonné, gold wire outlining shapes filled with colored glass, predominantly a dark red background detailed with green. An overarching outline of a flower contains a white bull in a circle in the center out from which branches two layers of petals, each inner petal representing one bird from various bird types, and outer petals two, with floral designs filling in around the birds. Three circles of repeated patterns rim the plate.

Plate with Nandi in Center

c. 1800

Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Jaipur

cloisonné enamel on gold
Diameter: 14.4 cm (5 11/16 in.)
Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin 1989.352
Location: 242B Indian Painting

Did You Know?

A peacock and peahen inhabit the upper right corner.

Description

Petal-shaped canopies filled with floral designs and birds encircle an image of Nandi, the white bull mount of the Hindu destroyer god Shiva. Together they form a lotus flower. The birds are individualized species, showing the care of the metalworker to depict nature in all its variety and splendor. The fowl include peacocks, parakeets, bluebirds, and possibly even Indian rollers. To make the birds’ wings and the details on Nandi, the artist used thin gold wire to create cells, called cloisons, that could then be filled with colored glass. Some of the red glass has been lost on the outer rim of the plate.
  • ?–1966
    (Everett Rassiga, Inc., NY, sold to Severance and Greta Millikin)
    1966–1989
    Severance A. [1895–1985] and Greta [Marguerite Steckerl] Millikin [1903–1989], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1989–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990. Mentioned: cat. no. 197, p. 92.
  • Temples and Worship in South Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14, 2024-March 9, 2025).
    Carpets and Canopies in Mughal India​ (Indian art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 22-September 8, 2024).
    Nature Supernatural. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 2023-March 3, 2024).
    The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 5-September 2, 1990).
  • {{cite web|title=Plate with Nandi in Center|url=false|author=|year=c. 1800|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.352