San Diego Museum of Art - The Sports of Love

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The Sports of Love

Creation date: mid 16th century

Creation place: India

Other Information

Type: Watercolor Painting

Medium and Support: Opaque watercolor and ink on paper

Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Accession Number: 1990.586

State/Province: Rajasthan

Dimensions: 7 13/32 in. x 9 29/32 in. (18.8 cm x 25.2 cm)

Provenance

Vijaya Vargiya, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India ( - November 28, 1968)

Thikana Collection, Isarda, India ( - )

Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California (November 28, 1968 - August 27, 1990)

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (August 27, 1990 - )

Label Copy

The Bhagavata Purana is the story of the life and adventures of the cowherd (gopa) Krishna, the audacious boy who grew into an audacious man and lover and finally a wise king. As a small boy he teased and played jokes on his mother; as a young man he teased and played jokes on his consort Radha and on his multitude of girl friends, the gopis. Here we see him splashing about with the gopis in the Jamna River, cooling off after spending the night dancing the Raslila, a cosmic dance of passion. This particular Isarda page is unrivalled for the brilliant depiction of the movement of water in the Jamna River.

Power & Desire, 04/00
This painting is from a manuscript of the Bhagavata Purana which describes the incarnations of Vishnu. Its Krishna section dwells lovingly on his childhood pranks. Here Krishna revels with the cowherdesses. We see him splashing in the river Jumna with a bevy of girls, who pelt each other with lotuses. In later literature Radha emerges to show Krishna a different kind of love.

October 2005
Domains of Wonder
On a beautiful autumn night, Krishna decided to invite the cowherd girls of his village to play in the river. The maidens, who were all in love with him, immediately left everything they had been doing to go swimming with him amid the lotus buds. This picture was painted after the inception of imperial Mughal painting under Akbar. Workshops in Mewar, however, continued to produce paintings in the traditional, indigenous style. Only in minor ways are Mughal elements revealed, as in the naturalistic swirling eddies of water.
Last Updated: 9/5/2017

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Krishnamandala, A Devotional Theme in Indian Art The University of Michigan , 8/1/1970 - 9/30/1970

A Flower from Every Meadow: Indian Paintings from American Collections Asia Society Galleries , 3/21/1973 - 11/11/1973

Myths, Monsters, Maharajas: Introducing the Binney Collection San Diego Museum of Art , 11/23/1991 - 1/26/1992

Power & Desire: South Asian Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art , 4/29/2000 - 10/5/2003

Domains of Wonder: Selected Masterworks of Indian Painting San Diego Museum of Art , 10/22/2005 - 1/27/2008

Bibliography

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Mr. Stuart Cary Welch. A Flower from Every Meadow: Asia House Gallery. New York, New York, 1973
Page Number: 13

Mr. Stuart Cary Welch and Mark Zebrowski. A Flower from Every Meadow: Asia House Gallery. New York, New York, 1973
Page Number: 26, 27, Figure Number: 7

Mr. Stuart Cary Welch and Mark Zebrowski. A Flower from Every Meadow: Asia House Gallery. New York, New York, 1973
Page Number: 93

Dr. Caron Smith. Arts of Asia Arts of Asia Publications Ltd. Hong Kong, September 2000-October 2000
Page Number: 87, 88, Figure Number: 6

Amina Okada. Pouvoir et Désir: Miniatures Indiennes, Collection Edwin Binney 3rd du San Diego Museum of Art Paris musées/Éditions Findakly. Paris/Suilly-la-Tour, France, 2002
Page Number: 138, 139, Figure Number: 53

Walter M Spink. Krishnamandala, A Devotional Theme in Indian Art The University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1970
Page Number: 102, 103, Figure Number: 117

Walter M Spink. Krishnamandala, A Devotional Theme in Indian Art The University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1970
Page Number: 124 no. 117

Anna Libera Dahmen-Dallapiccola. Indische Minaturen: Malerei der Rajput-Staaten Holle Verlag GmbH. Baden-Baden, Germany, 1976
Page Number: 24, 25, Figure Number: 5

Indian and Southeast Asian Art, Christie's. New York, New York, September 23, 2004
Page Number: 116 lot no. 164

Indian & Southeast Asian Art, Sotheby's. New York, New York, September 24, 2004
Page Number: 98 Lot no. 105

Brijinder Nath Goswamy and Dr. Caron Smith. Domains of Wonder: San Diego Museum of Art. San Diego, California, 2005
Page Number: 46, 52, 53, Figure Number: 12