SOUTH INDIA, VIJAYANAGAR PERIOD, 15TH/16TH CENTURY

This is a popular subject in South India, where the infant Krishna, inordinately fond of butter, is frequently depicted crawling or as a joyfully dancing boy holding a prized ball of butter after successfully raiding his mother's larder; for two similar examples, one from the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, see P. Pal, Indian Sculpture, 1988, vol. 2, cat. no. 159b; the other from the Norton Simon Collection, see P. Pal, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, vol. 1, cat. no. 201, p. 277.