Rob Dean Art
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Artworks
  • Exhibitions
  • Contact

Artworks

  • All
  • Classical Paintings
  • Modern
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: An Illustration to a Mahabharata Series
An Illustration to a Mahabharata Series
Krishna Seated on a Chariot
Bilaspur, India
Opaque pigment on paper
Circa 1660 -1680
Enquire
%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cem%3EAn%20Illustration%20to%20a%20Mahabharata%20Series%20%3C/em%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EKrishna%20Seated%20on%20a%20Chariot%20%3Cbr/%3E%0ABilaspur%2C%20India%3Cbr/%3E%0AOpaque%20pigment%20on%20paper%20%3Cbr/%3E%0ACirca%201660%20-1680%3C/div%3E
This image from the Mahabharata series from Bilaspur depicts Krishna seated on a chariot surrounded by his army, seemingly on their way to battle. At the centre of the painting,...
Read more

This image from the Mahabharata series from Bilaspur depicts Krishna seated on a chariot surrounded by his army, seemingly on their way to battle. At the centre of the painting, Krishna, blue skinned and clad in a yellow dhoti and golden crown holds his famous bow, Shaarnga. A gold image of Garuda, the vahana of Vishnu, with his winged human body and parrot head folds his hands as the standard on the chariot, revealing Krishna’s true identity. 

 

It appears likely that the present page and one published by Archer from the Binney Collection and another from the Brooklyn Museum are from the same series. Although no inscriptions are noted by Archer in his painting, it seems the format and the treatment of faces, clothes and turbans and landscape are all consistent. Also of note is the identical treatment of the horses’ shaded rectangular saddlecloths in the Binney page and the cover on the elephant in the present page.

 

For other pages from this series see W.G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, vol.II, nos. 5 (i), Sotheby’s London, April 23, 1974, lots 93-100 and July 9, 1974, lot 202; Waddington and Tooth, London, June 1977, no. 68, Christie’s, New York, Pal Family Collection, March 20, 2008 and Francesca Galloway, October, 2008, p. 29. Glynn, C., ‘Early Painting in Mandi’, in Artibus Asiae, XLIV, 1, 1983, pp. 21-64. For further discussion about the series and two other closely related sets see Joachim Bautze, Indian Miniature Paintings, c. 1590-c.1850, Galerie, Saundarya Lahari, Amsterdam, 1987, p. 113.

Close full details
Previous
|
Next
47 
of 68
Copyright © 2023 Rob Dean Art
Manage cookies
Site by Artlogic
Send an email

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences