Maharao Kishor Singh II of Kota (r. 1819–28) Worshiping Krishna as Brij Rajji (c. 1825): Art, History and Details

Maharao Kishor Singh II of Kota (r. 1819–28) Worshiping Krishna as Brij Rajji (c. 1825) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The ruler of the small princely state of Kota, dressed as a priest of the Pushti Marg sect, holds a lamp with five flames. He pays homage to a triad of metal images with Krishna in the center, flanked by two consorts, enshrined in a small kiosk lined with metallic panels designed to reflect light. This icon is worshiped only in Kota. A multitude of glass lamps hang from the ceiling, and toys and games to amuse Krishna and his companions have been arranged on the steps leading up to the altar, including brass elephants, silver cows, balls, and a pachisi board.

Object facts

• Title: Maharao Kishor Singh II of Kota (r. 1819–28) Worshiping Krishna as Brij Rajji
• Date: c. 1825
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Kota
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, silver, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 24.5 x 18.8 cm (9 5/8 x 7 3/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1978.71

A detail from the museum

Mirrors line the back of the shrine.

Collection credit

James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 1 (January 1979): 3–47.
• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.
• Tod, James, and Norbert Peabody. Annals and Antiquities of Rajast’han, or the Central and Western Rajpoot States of India. London, New Haven: Royal Asiatic Society; Yale University Press, 2023.

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.