Collection Online as of June 6, 2023

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Page: 24.8 x 17.8 cm (9 3/4 x 7 in.); Image: 23.5 x 16.6 cm (9 1/4 x 6 9/16 in.)

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.118

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Krishna playfully splashes one of the women who turns her face away.

Description

After Krishna raised Mount Govardhan, he began to play erotically with the girls of his village. Under a scorching sun, Krishna and three milkmaids enjoy the cooling waters of the Yamuna River. The women neatly stack their clothes on a nearby tree, and Krishna’s crown and scarf rest by the bank. Krishna playfully splashes one of the women, and she turns her face away. This scene evokes the joy of spending life in intimacy with the god Krishna.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Inscription Translation

Inscription Remark

Number 13 written with pen and again with pencil. It was previously read as number 15

Provenance

?–July 1984

(Kundus, San Francisco, CA, sold to Ralph and Catherine Glynn Benkaim)

July 1984–2001

Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA

2001–2018

Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art

2018–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

Life and Exploits of Krishna in Indian Paintings (Indian art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2021-February 6, 2022).

The Cleveland Museum of Art