Untitled

Unknown

ca. 1675 · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper · Asian Art

Here a female mendicant makes a Vedic fire offering to the god Brahma who is represented with four overlapping faces and holds a text, rosary (mala), and flower. An earlier ragamala text of 1550 provides the following description of Brahma: “He [Brahma] teaches the Vedas . . . and causes other to perform the fire-oblation. A bright garment covers the beauty of [her] body; [her] fair colour gleams.”

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1675

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Culture

India (Rajasthan, Bikaner)

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Doris Wiener, in honor of Steven Kossak, 2000