painting
- Museum number
- 2007,3005.55
- Description
-
Gouache painting on paper from a portfolio of sixty-three paintings of deities and daily life. Indra, guardian of the east, rides on his elephant, Airāvata. The red-complexioned and thousand eyed god is accompanied by two attendants on foot, one carrying a parasol, the other carrying a spear. Indra has a tanka (chisel) in his upper right hand, a vajra (thunderbolt) in his upper left, and in the lower right, a sword with a serrated edge. Airāvata carries a garland of flowers in his trunk.
- Production date
- 1820 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 27.50 centimetres
-
Width: 22.80 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- 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
- good; a few stains
- 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
- 2007,3005.55
