painting
- Museum number
- 1913,0208,0.6
- Description
-
Gouache painting on mica of a green-complexioned Kalki, with the face and lower body of a horse and a human torso, wearing a crown, a golden kavacha (armour) and jewellery. In his upper right hand he carries the chakra (discus), in his upper left the shankha (conch), in his lower right a sword and in his lower left a buckler. A shawl is draped over his elbows and a floral garland hangs from his neck. The background is plain and the foreground buff.
- Production date
- 19thC(mid)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 11 centimetres
-
Width: 14 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Dallapiccola 2010:
This painting is from a set of twelve mica paintings of Hindu deities (1913,0208,0.3-14). By the mid nineteenth century the mica painting industry was flourishing, and the most popular sets were those depicting deities, temples, fruit, flowers, birds, butterflies and castes and trades. Although there is a strong stylistic connection between the works executed on paper at Thanjavur and those on mica, the Tiruchirappalli paintings are generally cruder and their palette is less refined. The artists had a predilection for arsenic greens, vivid reds, lemony yellows and a peculiar kind of ochre with reddish shadows.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1913,0208,0.6
