Rishabha enthroned, folio 1 (verso) from a Yoga-shastra of Hemachandra (c. 1275): Art, History and Details

Rishabha enthroned, folio 1 (verso) from a Yoga-shastra of Hemachandra (c. 1275) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The first to achieve liberation, according to followers of Jainism, is the golden Jina named Rishabha. He is shown seated in glory on the first page of a Sanskrit text on yoga and meditation. This manuscript begins on the verso; the recto was left blank.

Object facts

• Title: Rishabha enthroned, folio 1 (verso) from a Yoga-shastra of Hemachandra
• Date: c. 1275
• Culture: Western India, Gujarat
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf
• Dimensions: Overall: 5.3 x 30.2 cm (2 1/16 x 11 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1971.128

A detail from the museum

The small bull in the middle of his throne identifies him as Rishabha, which means "bull" in Sanskrit.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• 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.