Cleveland Museum of Art
Krishna Fluting
- Date
- c. 1675–1700
- Medium
- Gum tempera on paper
- Culture
- Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Bundi
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 314462
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
Brilliantly set off against a flat red ground, Krishna’s blue body is the focus of the brown cow, lured to the god by the melody of his flute. Even the plantain and cypress trees seem to point in his direction. The figural style of the artists of this Rajput kingdom effortlessly shows the head turned in one direction, while the feet point the opposite way, contributing to Krishna’s superhuman appearance. Below, a herdsman struggles to manage a spotted cow in front of a temple with a linga, a stylized phallic form that identifies the presence of the Hindu god Shiva. This fluting scene refers to Krishna’s coming of age as a cowherd.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Provenance
- –2018: Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 2018–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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