Covering cloth with scene of Krishna dancing with cowherd women
Mounted: H. 35 3/8 × W. 35 3/8 × D. 3/8 in (H. 89.9 cm × W. 89.9 cm × D. 1 cm)
Four Krishnas dance with four cowherd women in a radial arrangement with their heads toward the center and their feet pointing out. In the center, where we often find Krishna dancing with or without a partner, he sits ready to play his flute, while a young woman, perhaps to be understood as his beloved Radha, offers him refreshment.
The patterning here is insistent. Around the circle of dancers are arrayed in regular fashion eight cows, eight banana plants, and sixteen cowherd boys. The artist seems to delight in introducing small variations into the pattern. The cows are of different colors, and some are spotted; three sets of boys cavort with herding sticks and branches, while others play musical instruments; peacocks are regularly positioned above the cows: we expect eight, but one is a different sort of bird.
