Shri Shankara Shiva

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This magnificent rendering of Shiva’s divine family is one of the earliest and most popular prints of Chitrashala Press, based in Pune, western India. The youthful and handsome faces of Shiva and his wife Parvati gaze directly at the viewer, engaging the devotee in the act of darshan, ‘seeing the Divine’. The holy family, richly dressed and adorned, seated on a throne with a cusped back and sides featuring carved lions with heavy manes. Shiva embraces both Parvati and their second son Ganesha with his lower arms, while holding aloft his trident (trisula) and ax in his upper hands. Shiva’s calf-bull Vrsabha (popularly known as Nandi, ‘the joyful’) sits couchant facing his Lord, wearing a splendid blanket of green velvet with golden floral medallion border, a golden harness and chain of bells around his neck. This scene has the staged feel of a photographic studio composition, with the snowy peaks of the Himalayas as the painted backdrop. Undoubtedly the artist was directly drawing on such staged theatrics in this composition.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art