Friends of Krishna, folio 163 from a Bhakti Ratnavali of Vishnu Puri (1725–50): Art, History and Details

Friends of Krishna, folio 163 from a Bhakti Ratnavali of Vishnu Puri (1725–50) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

In the upper left vignette, the blue-skinned Krishna sits with two of his friends before Nanda, his foster father and head of the cowherd village in Braj, where he spent his youth. Below, he interacts with three adoring cows. The scene in the upper right corner accords with the end of the verse at the top of the page, which reads, “The one who speaks about him to his wife and son at home will never be abandoned by him.” The text is drawn from a compendium of devotional verses excerpted from the extensive Bhagavata Purana by the medieval commentator Vishnu Puri.

Object facts

• Title: Friends of Krishna, folio 163 from a Bhakti Ratnavali of Vishnu Puri
• Date: 1725–50
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Mewar
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 26.5 x 42.2 cm (10 7/16 x 16 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1970.510

A detail from the museum

The entire background has been painted with the pigment known as Indian yellow, which CMA conservators identified by observing its bright fluorescence under ultraviolet light.

Collection credit

Gift of Louise G. Schroeder

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.