Juggler (c. 1840): Art, History and Details

Juggler (c. 1840) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

A page from a book of paintings that would have included images of various entertainments in India, this painting is rendered in a European style for British consumption. The label Juggler is written in a Victorian-era hand in the margin below. The main figure is seated on the ground with his knees drawn tightly up under his chin, reinforcing a Western stereotype that all Indian people can do physical feats with their bodies, like yogis. On display are his talents of manipulating balls on a two-stringed bow, called “juggling” by the British owner of the painting for lack of a better moniker. His performance was intended to create a spectacle for entertainment and income. This painting would have been made for sale too, in the new economy under British dominance in which Indian artists made documentary pictures for foreign overlords.

Object facts

• Title: Juggler
• Date: c. 1840
• Culture: India, Company School, Lucknow or Patna, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: ink and gouache on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 17.2 x 12.7 cm (6 3/4 x 5 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1982.119

A detail from the museum

Cowrie shells, in front of him, were used as money.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Ward

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (January 1983): 3–55.
• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.

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.