painting
- Museum number
- 2007,3005.37
- Description
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Gouache painting on paper from a portfolio of sixty-three paintings of deities and daily life. Nairruti, the guardian of the south-west, rides on the shoulders of a large, dark male figure. The red-complexioned dikpala (guardian) is shown with four arms. In his upper right hand is a round object with a handle and in the upper left hand is a fan. His lower right hand is in abhaya and his lower left in varada mudra. He wears a dhoti, the angavastra (shawl) draped over his elbows, and he bears a delicately drawn yajnopavita (sacred thread) across his chest. The sturdy man supports Nairruti’s feet on his upturned palms. He wears short trousers, an angavastra draped over his shoulders and ornaments. The god is accompanied by two attendants on foot. The one preceding him carries a fan, similar to the one Nairruti carries in his upper left hand. The other, following him, carries a parasol. A light wash of brown and green suggest the ground on which the group stand.
- Production date
- 1820 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 28.20 centimetres
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Width: 23.10 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Dallapiccola 2010:
The portfolio consists of sixty-three paintings on loose sheets of paper. The series includes images of deities, mendicants and ritual scenes such as a wedding and cremation. Executed on European laid and water-marked paper, with the date 1816 appearing on one sheet, the paintings must have been produced in the immediately following years, c. 1820. There is much use of gold paint and brilliant colours, which is still bright, evidence of the portfolio having been kept closed for long periods since its creation.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- basically good, but bumped at corners, stained at bottom left and slightly torn on top edge.
- Acquisition date
- 2007
- Acquisition notes
- Formerly in the possession of Edward Moodie's maternal great-uncle, Rupert Richardson-Gardner, who worked in India in the 1930s. However, given the presence of auction room stickers on several of the paintings (one provides the date of the sale – June 15th 1977), it is more likely that the portfolio was acquired by him during his post-war career in Christie’s (he was a specialist in carpets and rugs, but, given his previous career in India, he probably maintained an interest in things Indian which he saw passing through the sale-rooms).
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2007,3005.37
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: 61 (top left)
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Miscellaneous number: 69 (top right)