Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto); Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso) (c. 1890): Art, History and Details

Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto); Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso) (c. 1890) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

In the image on the recto taken from both popular accounts and the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna has stolen the clothes of cowgirls (gopis) who are bathing in the Yamuna River, a tributary of the Ganges River. He refuses to return their clothes, the purple saris seen hanging high in the tree, until they come out and bow to him with folded palms. Krishna, a cowherder, is holding a flute, which he uses to lure them away.

Object facts

• Title: Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto); Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso)
• Date: c. 1890
• Culture: Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper; Woodcut, hand colored with gum tempera
• Dimensions: Secondary Support: 48.5 x 29.9 cm (19 1/8 x 11 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2003.114

Collection credit

Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward

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.