popular print;
album
- Museum number
- 2003,1022,0.39
- Description
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Album of popular prints mounted on cloth pages. Colour lithograph, lettered, inscribed and numbered 39. Vishnu rests on the serpent Ananta while Brahma appears within a lotus flower emitting from Vishnu's navel; thus Brahma is born and the universe is created. Lakshmi is positioned near Vishnu's feet. See 2003,1022,0.52 for a similar depiction from this series.
- Production date
- 1895 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 41 centimetres (sheet)
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Width: 30.50 centimetres (sheet)
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- Curator's comments
- The Calcutta Art Studio was established in 1878 by Ananda Prasad Bagchi (1849-1905) along with the help of several artists. Lithography was gaining momentum as a medium for picture production in the 1870s, and this was one of the largest studios operating in Bengal producing popular prints for the mass market. Hand-written captions in English have been added to the Bengali letter-press of the majority of the prints (some letterpress also in Hindi). The majority of the chromolithographs in this album were produced in Calcutta and reflect Bengal devotional cults; the final four prints were published by the Ravi Varma Press from Lonavla, c. 1910.
See Christopher Pinney, 'Photos of the Gods' London 2004 for a comprehensive account of nineteenth century popular prints in India.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Good
- Acquisition date
- 2003
- Acquisition notes
- Acquired by the vendor in a library sale in the UK.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2003,1022,0.39
