Yasoda with Krishna Churning Butter (c. 1890): Art, History and Details

Yasoda with Krishna Churning Butter (c. 1890) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Yashoda, wife of the head of the cowherd village, raised Krishna from infancy. She is shown here churning milk into butter, while the mischievous toddler Krishna tips his hand in the pot to steal the rich cream. Kalighat paintings were made for pilgrims to take home and keep on domestic shrines. Made swiftly on inexpensive paper, they are a genre of art available to a wide swath of people.

Object facts

• Title: Yasoda with Krishna Churning Butter
• Date: c. 1890
• Culture: Eastern India, Kolkata, Kalighat
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, graphite, and tin on paper
• Dimensions: Secondary Support: 51.3 x 35.6 cm (20 3/16 x 14 in.); Painting only: 45 x 27.8 cm (17 11/16 x 10 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2003.160

A detail from the museum

The Hindu god Krishna eats butter, like the sacrificial fire into which Brahman priests pour ghee.

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.