Box decorated with Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, and Ganesha (c. 1800): Art, History and Details

Box decorated with Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, and Ganesha (c. 1800) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This box is covered in a variety of birds, animals, and plants. The central motifs on the lids include images of four Hindu gods: Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu, and Ganesha. The blue figures are Vishnu and Krishna, the latter of which is an incarnation of the former who is shown playing a flute. The elephant-headed Ganesha is red and accompanied by his mount, the bandicoot rat Dinka. The four-armed Shiva is paired with two animals, including a tiger and his sacred bull mount Nandi. Small enamel boxes could be used to house many different substances, from cosmetics to spices to stimulants, including opium and paan, a digestive typically given at formal gatherings as a sign of the host’s hospitality.

Object facts

• Title: Box decorated with Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, and Ganesha
• Date: c. 1800
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Jaipur
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gold with enamel
• Dimensions: Overall: 4.5 x 6.3 cm (1 3/4 x 2 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1989.353

A detail from the museum

Shiva’s mount is the bull; the tiger is the mount of his wife.

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.