Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Browse: 655 objects

Scenes of Krishna, Radha, and her companion, and the poet Jayadevafront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

  • Scenes of Krishna, Radha, and her companion, and the poet Jayadeva (back)
Reference URL
?

Actions

For enquiries about this website, or about the collections, please visit the main Ashmolean Museum website where you will find our contact details. Contact the Ashmolean Museum

You will find the most up-to-date information about the collections on the Ashmolean’s Collections Online site. Browse and search hundreds of thousands of collection records which are continually being added to. Search the Collection – Ashmolean Collections Online

Contact us about this object

Scenes of Krishna, Radha, and her companion, and the poet Jayadeva

  • Description

    Composed by the 12th-century Sanskrit poet Jayadeva, the Gitagovinda describes in impassioned verses the love between the god Krishna and Radha, his favoured consort among the gopis or milkmaids of the Braj country near Mathura. The dispersed series to which this page belonged was the first commission carried out by Sahibdin as court painter to Maharana Jagat Singh I of Udaipur (r.1628-1652). In successive scenes, Radha describes to her sakhi (companion or confidante) how Krishna converses with her, embraces her, adorns her braided hair with flowers, and makes love to her. Yet the text may suggest, unconventionally, that Krishna is all the while confusing Radha with her sakhi, with whom he is currently enamoured. Below, the poet Jayadeva is shown reciting his verses to the accompaniment of cymbals.

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Asia › India › west India › Rajasthan › south Rajasthan › Udaipur (place of creation)
    Date
    1629
    Artist/maker
    Sahibdin (active 1628 - 1655) (artist)
    Jayadeva (active 12th century) (author)
    Associated people
    Jayadeva (active 12th century) (subject)
    probably Jagat Singh I, Maharana of Udaipur (ruled 1628 - 1652) (commissioner)
    Material and technique
    gouache on paper
    Dimensions
    31 x 23 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    covered › coated › painted,
    marked › painted,
    decorated › painted,
    painted
    Object type index
    communications equipment › manuscript,
    visual representation › painting
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by the Simon Digby Memorial Charity, 2012.
    Accession no.
    EA2012.198

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum