Krishna Under a Canopy (c. 1680): Art, History and Details

Krishna Under a Canopy (c. 1680) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This tranquil, languid scene on a white marble, carpeted terrace depicts the god Krishna in the place of an earthly prince. A female attendant at the left fans him, while he and another lady each hold a rose. The open doorway in the background with the rolled-up curtain above suggests the intimacy of an imminent encounter inside.

Object facts

• Title: Krishna Under a Canopy
• Date: c. 1680
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Raghogarh
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 26.7 x 17.8 cm (10 1/2 x 7 in.); Miniature: 22.9 x 14 cm (9 x 5 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.184

A detail from the museum

Krishna holds a scepter, or mace, which is one of the weapons of the god Vishnu, of whom he is an incarnation.

Collection credit

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

Further reading listed by the museum

• Sotheby's, New York. Indian & Southeast Asian Works of Art. September 19, 2008.
• Sotheby's, New York. Indian & Southeast Asian Works of Art. September 19, 2008.

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.