Episodes from the life of Krishna Northern India... Lot 297

Episodes from the life of Krishna Northern India or Nepal ca 1900 Gouache on canvas 128 x 183 cm Important painting with a decoration organized in register in the manner of vilampo newars. The centre of the composition is occupied by Shiva sitting in the Himalayas, his two wives resting on his knees, the bull and the lion, their mounts lying at their feet. They are surrounded by their two children, Skanda and Ganesha, as well as the two other great gods of the Hindu trinity, Brahmâ and Vishnu. The side scenes represent respectively, on the right, a person paying homage to seven ascetics, most probably the Saptarishi at the origin of the revelation of the primordial veda emanating from the origin of the cosmos, and on the left, Krishna playing the flute, accompanied by Radha and two Gopi. The two upper and lower registers recount in a comic-strip style various episodes in Krishna's life from his birth, his life in Vrindavan with the episode of Mount Govardana raised to escape the flood, and his various adventures with his brother Balarâma. This historiated sequence is interrupted above Shiva by the representation of the 10 avatars of Vishnu of which Krishna is a part. Provenance: Compagnie de la Chine et des Indes (Paris) (Inv.21047 Acquired in 1971)