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Juggler

c. 1840

Medium: ink and gouache on paper
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: Overall: 17.2 x 12.7 cm (6 3/4 x 5 in.)
Culture: India, Company School, Lucknow or Patna, 19th century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Ward
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

About this work

A page from a book of paintings that would have included images of various entertainments in India, this painting is rendered in a European style for British consumption. The label Juggler is written in a Victorian-era hand in the margin below. The main figure is seated on the ground with his knees drawn tightly up under his chin, reinforcing a Western stereotype that all Indian people can do physical feats with their bodies, like yogis. On display are his talents of manipulating balls on a two-stringed bow, called “juggling” by the British owner of the painting for lack of a better moniker. His performance was intended to create a spectacle for entertainment and income. This painting would have been made for sale too, in the new economy under British dominance in which Indian artists made documentary pictures for foreign overlords.