Cleveland Museum of Art

Krishna sporting with the gopis in the Jumna River, from a Bhagavata Purana

Date: c. 1525–40
Medium: Gum tempera and ink on paper
Culture: Northern India
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

Abstract concentric circles depict water churned up by the gopis , or cowherd women, who are swimming and playing with joy and abandon. In their midst, the blue-skinned Krishna reaches for a gopi’s breast. Their love play is celebrated by celestial beings in the sky who offer flower garlands and beat on a drum. Every figure’s face is shown in profile—a hallmark of Indian painting of the early 1500s perpetuated by artists wishing to emphasize Indian rather than Persian depictions of the human form. This page is from one of the earliest surviving illustrated Hindu manuscripts on the life of Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu.

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