Scenes of Instruction

INDIA, RAJASTHAN, JAIPUR, CIRCA 1800-25

Details

Scenes of Instruction
India, Rajasthan, Jaipur, circa 1800-25
Depicting a Svetambara teacher upon a dais with three white-clad monks seated behind him holding whisks, his followers separated by gender with a group of women seated upon a striped mat at upper left and a group of men arranged closer to the monks, the room divided by decorated pillars
7¾ x 11 in. (19.7 x 27.9 cm.)

Literature

P. Pal, The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India, 1994, p. 255, cat. no. 119B.

Exhibited

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India, 1994/95, cat. no. 119B; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, 1995; New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art, 1995; London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1995/96.

Lot Essay

Lectures by itinerant monks are a particularly common method of transmitting Jain principles and theological ideas to a lay audience. According to S. Markel, The Peaceful Liberators, p. 255, the Svetambara teacher while unidentified, is realistically rendered wearing a black shawl. He further notes that the women are portrayed without overt distinctions in features and garments while the men's faces are more individualized, perhaps because the artist had better access to the male attendees in a segregated environment.

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