1971.130: Vasakasajja Nayika with Female Attendants

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1971.130

Title

Vasakasajja Nayika with Female Attendants

Classification

Albums

Work Type

album folio

Date

18th century

Places

Creation Place: South Asia, India, Himachal Pradesh, Kangra

Culture

Indian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/215367

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper;

Dimensions

20.96 x 15.72 cm (8 1/4 x 6 3/16 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Kenneth Galbraith

Accession Year

1971

Object Number

1971.130

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Standing on a gold pedestal is a female figure, who may be identified as a vasakasajja nayika, or a heroine that dresses up for her lover. The nayika holds onto her long, wet, black hair. The heroine has just had a bath, which is signified by the large basin and ewer carried by one of her attendants. The other attendant holds up a flywhisk, denoting the heroine’s royal status. Kneeling before the nayika is a bare chested female attendant wearing a white skirt, who adjusts the heroine’s long, pink skirt. There are two attendants on the left, one carries a large, gold, square tray with the nayika’s red dress. The figures stand on a white terrace. Pahari School, Kangra Style.

Publication History

• Stuart Cary Welch and Milo Cleveland Beach, Gods, Thrones, and Peacocks Northern Indian Painting from Two Traditions, exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1965), page 45/figure 60
• Milo Cleveland Beach, Mughal and Rajput Painting, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1992), p. 200, fig. 152

Exhibition History

• Gods, Thrones, and Peacocks - Revisited: Northern Indian Miniatures from two Traditions, Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/31/1990 - 06/10/1990
• From India's Hills and Plains: Rajput Painting from the Punjab and Rajasthan, 17th through 19th Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/1993 - 10/31/1993
• Rasika, the Discerning Connoisseur: Indian Paintings from the John Kenneth Galbraith Collection, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/1998 - 04/05/1998
• A Colloquium in the Visual Arts, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/02/2023 - 12/30/2023

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