Cleveland Museum of Art
Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto); Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso)
- Date
- c. 1890
- Medium
- Gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper; Woodcut, hand colored with gum tempera
- Culture
- Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 162451
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
In the image on the recto taken from both popular accounts and the Bhagavata Purana , Krishna has stolen the clothes of cowgirls ( gopis ) who are bathing in the Yamuna River, a tributary of the Ganges River. He refuses to return their clothes, the purple saris seen hanging high in the tree, until they come out and bow to him with folded palms. Krishna, a cowherder, is holding a flute, which he uses to lure them away.
The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward
- Provenance
- ?–2003: William E. Ward [1922–2004], Solon, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 2003–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Cleveland Museum of Art and other institutions.
Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Cowgirls (Gopis) (recto), from a Kalighat album
Cleveland Museum of Art
#162452
Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Milkmaids and Expounds on the Virtue of Trees, from a Braj Bhagavata Purana
Cleveland Museum of Art
#153199
Krishna Ferrying Radha Across the Yamuna River (recto); Parivati Placing a Wedding Garland on Shiva (verso)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#162469
Krishna Ferrying Radha Across the Yamuna River
Cleveland Museum of Art
#162473
Krishna sporting with the gopis in the Jumna River, from a Bhagavata Purana
Cleveland Museum of Art
#145966
Krishna Ferrying Radha Across the Yamuna River (recto)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#162470
Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Gopis
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
#849520
Krishna and Gopis
Cleveland Museum of Art
#162857
Leaf from a Kalighat album: Krishna as Kali worshipped by Radha (recto); Krishna quells the serpent Kaliya (verso)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#162448
Krishna Playing with the Gopis in the Yamuna
Cleveland Museum of Art
#314369
Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso), from a Kalighat album
Cleveland Museum of Art
#162453
Cowherd women seek the God Krishna in the forest
Minneapolis Institute of Art
#4828