Friends of Krishna, folio 163 from a Bhakti Ratnavali of Vishnu Puri
In the upper left vignette, the blue-skinned Krishna sits with two of his friends before Nanda, his foster father and head of the cowherd village in Braj, where he spent his youth. Below, he interacts with three adoring cows. The scene in the upper right corner accords with the end of the verse at the top of the page, which reads, “The one who speaks about him to his wife and son at home will never be abandoned by him.” The text is drawn from a compendium of devotional verses excerpted from the extensive Bhagavata Purana by the medieval commentator Vishnu Puri.
Colors in this work
Details
- Artist
- Unknown artist
- Date
- 1725–50
- Dimensions
- overall: height 0.265 m, width 0.422 m
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
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- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift of Louise G. Schroeder
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Subject Matter
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Deities and Holy Figures Both · 99%
Krishna is identified in the museum description and is visibly represented as a blue-skinned, crowned figure in multiple scenes.
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Mythology and Religion Both · 99%
The folio presents Krishna-centered devotional material drawn from the Bhagavata Purana and visibly depicts a sacred narrative.
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Human Figure Both · 99%
The image contains numerous seated, standing, and conversing human figures, including Krishna, his friends, Nanda, and figures in the pavilion.
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Animals Both · 99%
Three cows are visibly depicted in the lower-left scene, where the catalog states that Krishna interacts with them.
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Text Both · 99%
Dense handwritten text is visibly integrated across the upper register, and the catalog identifies it as devotional verse from the Bhakti Ratnavali.
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Narrative Both · 97%
Multiple discrete scenes are arranged on a single folio, and the museum description identifies narrative episodes associated with the accompanying devotional text.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Metadata · 99%
The Cleveland Museum of Art classifies the work as a painting and identifies its medium as gum tempera and gold on paper.
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Work on Paper Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies the support as paper and describes the work as folio 163 from a devotional manuscript.
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Manuscript Metadata · 99%
The work is identified as folio 163 from a Bhakti Ratnavali manuscript, with extensive handwritten text integrated into the page.
Time Periods
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18th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the work to 1725–50, placing it in the eighteenth century.
Geographic Regions
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Indian Art Metadata · 99%
The stated place of origin is Northwestern India, Rajasthan, in the Rajput Kingdom of Mewar.
Materials
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Gold Metadata · 99%
The stated medium is gum tempera and gold on paper.
Source & rights
Unknown artist. Friends of Krishna, folio 163 from a Bhakti Ratnavali of Vishnu Puri. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 7,404 × 4,698 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available