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Object type painting term details album term details Museum number
1993,0806,0.39 Description
Gouache painting on paper from an album of eighty-two paintings of Hindu deities. Four-armed and thousand-eyed Indra carries in his upper right hand a vajra (thunderbolt), formed by six rhomboidal elements, with a sword in his upper left. In his lower right he holds a shield and in his lower left another smaller vajra. His many eyes are distributed equally over his four arms.
More School/style Company School term details Date 1850 (circa) Production place Painted in: Tamil Nadu (Asia,India,Tamil Nadu) Materials paper Technique painted term details Dimensions Height: 32.4 centimetres (page) Width: 29 centimetres (page) Inscriptions Inscription Type inscription Inscription Position lower border Inscription Language French Inscription Content Dévindren roi des saints de Sorca. Curator's comments
Dallapiccola 2010: Indra sports a bushy moustache often seen in mid-nineteenth-century portraits.
This album of eighty-two paintings of Hindu deities is bound in a wooden cover carved with the image of a female figure playing a vina, surrounded by a creeper. It comprises of an almost equal number of Vaishnava and Shaiva themes, a complete set of images of the ashtadikpalas, and a group of murtis (sacred images of a deity) worshipped in specific temples. The exceptional feature of this work is the inclusion of a group of grama devatas, local deities worshipped in rural areas.
The album contains a number of images of murtis worshipped at specific sites, and the geographical distribution of these sites and the presence of local deities such as Kattavarayan, might indicate that this album was produced either in north or central Tamil Nadu.
The paintings are inscribed with French captions, which are carefully written by two different hands, one of which appears only very occasionally. The text of the captions gives only the name of the depicted deity and, if necessary, a short explanation of the illustrated incident. A few inscriptions are not accurate. The names have been phonetically transcribed to suit the French pronunciation of Indian names.
The artist is conversant with an almost ‘impressionistic’ brushwork style, used consistently in rendering the crowns of the trees, which is at odds with the stiff and formal treatment used in the drawings of the deities, imitating the style of woodcut prints of the mid to late nineteenth century. The figures are somewhat heavily built, with the draping of their clothing emphasized.
More Bibliography Dallapiccola 2010 cat. 9.39 bibliographic details Subjects hinduism term details deity term details Associated names Representation of: Indra biography Acquisition name Funded by: Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund biography Purchased from: Pablo Butcher biography Acquisition date
1993 Department
Asia Registration number
1993,0806,0.39