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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2009.202.49
Title
Demons Before Kamsa, preparatory drawing for an illustration from the Bhagavata Purana
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1635 - 1640
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India, Rajasthan, Kota
Culture
Indian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/199185

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Ink and opaque watercolor on paper; Rajput Style, Kota School
Dimensions
15.3 x 19.8 cm (6 x 7 13/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Stuart Cary Welch (by 1999 - 2008,) by descent; to his estate (2008-2009,) gift; to Harvard Art Museum.

Notes:
Object was part of long-term loan to Museum in 1999.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch
Accession Year
2009
Object Number
2009.202.49
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
This preparatory drawing features two horned demons conversing with the tyrannical king, Kamsa. In the background, is a charbagh, a quadrilateral garden divided by walkways or water channels, as seen here, into four smaller parts. The channels run from a main fountain at the center.

This preparatory drawing might have been made as an aid for the manuscript of the Bhagavata Purana series prepared at the court of Rao Madho Singh (r. 1631–48) of Kota. Forty folios of this unfinished and uninscribed Bhagavata Purana series are now in the Government Museum of Kota collection, and two additional folios at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Rajput, Rajasthani, Kota School.

Exhibition History

  • Linear Graces ... and Disgraces: Part II, Drawings from the Courts of Persia, Turkey, and India, 15th-19th Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/26/1994 - 03/05/1995

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu