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Divine couple seated in a lotus blossom
early 1800s
- Medium
- Gum tempera and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 13.3 x 9 cm (5 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.)
- Culture
- Northern India, Pahari Region, Himachal Pradesh, Rajput Kingdom of Kangra
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
A gigantic, thousand-petaled lotus flower provides an intimate setting for the lovers. They sit on the seed pod of another full-blown lotus flower, which indicates their transcendent nature by elevating them from the mire of the earth.
Shown with full face forward in all white, the four-armed male deity has the all-seeing third eye in his brow and holds only a manuscript. The red goddess on his lap grasps a lotus flower in one hand, which communicates her benign and peaceful nature. At the bottom are offerings of flowers, incense, oil lamps, and jeweled cups of pure water or liquor.
