A picchvai celebrating Gopashtami with Krishna

INDIA, BENARES, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A picchvai celebrating Gopashtami with Krishna
India, Benares, early 19th century
With Krishna at center playing his flute beneath a tree, dressed in his distinctive yellow dhoti and red scarf, his head crowned with peacock feathers and backed by a halo, a single white cow behind him and surrounded by twenty-two painted and decorated cows facing inward, the whole bordered with a running floral vine
78¾ x 60¼ in. (200 x 153 cm.)

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Lot Essay

Picchvai such as the present example are often commissioned for either a public temple or private shrine on the occasion of a holiday or festival. The present example was made in honor of Gopashtami, the festival that commemorates the day that Krishna as Shri Nathji graduated to cowherder from a herder of calves. On this day, herders bring hundreds of cows and their calves to Nathadwara, where the cows are beautifully decorated for the occasion. They are painted with designs similar to those in the present picchvai, their horns are gilded, and some wear ankle bracelets and peacock-feather crowns.

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