THE MONKEY GOD HANUMAN
PROPERTY FROM THE DEXTER COLLECTION
Kota, Rajasthan, North-Western India, ca. 1860

Opaque pigments and gold on paper, the vertical composition depicting the Hindu monkey god Hanuman seated on a lavishly embroidered floor spread and resting against a large caparisoned bolster on a palatial terrace, wearing several strands of pearls, a long flower garland and golden encrusted bazubands and bracelets, holding in his hand a golden encrusted medical pot, at the top of the composition a Devanagari inscription in gold ink referring to Aayurveda Swaroop, when Lakshmana was mortally wounded and Hanuman was appointed to fetch herbal remedies from a mountain, the portrait set within golden and black rules and bright red borders, the recto plain except for a line of black ink Devanagari script reading Dhanvantri, the God of Ayurveda to whom prayers for good health should be directed when in need, 22.7cm x 19cm.

Dimensions: 22.7cm x 19cm