Krishna and Radha with Their Confidantes: Page from a Dispersed Gita Govinda

Krishna and Radha with Their Confidantes: Page from a Dispersed Gita Govinda

Manohar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Early Indian paintings are often divided into multiple registers in which successive episodes of a story are related. Above, Krishna holds his hand in a gesture of exposition while Radha gazes on in erotic expectation. Below, an open garlanded bower anticipates their tryst and alludes to the sexual tension generated by Krishna’s seduction of Radha, described in the associated passage of the Gita Govinda. This work, while based on earlier paintings by the artist Sahibdin, was probably produced in Manohar’s workshop. It is characterized by a bolder but perhaps less refined style.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Krishna and Radha with Their Confidantes: Page from a Dispersed Gita GovindaKrishna and Radha with Their Confidantes: Page from a Dispersed Gita GovindaKrishna and Radha with Their Confidantes: Page from a Dispersed Gita GovindaKrishna and Radha with Their Confidantes: Page from a Dispersed Gita GovindaKrishna and Radha with Their Confidantes: Page from a Dispersed Gita Govinda

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.