Women Play Music for Radha and Krishna: Chitrini Nayika, from a Rasikapriya (c. 1650): Art, History and Details

Women Play Music for Radha and Krishna: Chitrini Nayika, from a Rasikapriya (c. 1650) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The idea of aesthetic appreciation as explored by the poet Keshavdas (Indian, 1555–1617) in the excerpt from his Rasikapriya written on the back of this painting is envisioned as the appreciation of music. With their arms around each other, Radha and Krishna enjoy the performance on a stringed instrument (setar), cymbals, and drum in the forest.

Object facts

• Title: Women Play Music for Radha and Krishna: Chitrini Nayika, from a Rasikapriya
• Date: c. 1650
• Culture: Central India, Madhya Pradesh, Malwa
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 22.9 x 16.2 cm (9 x 6 3/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.132

A detail from the museum

Krishna wears a translucent yellow tunic (jama), tied under the right arm, which is usually the convention for Muslims.

Collection credit

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

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.