KRISHNA PLAYING THE FLUTE
Possibly Bundi, Rajasthan or Mathura, Northern India, late 17th - 18th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on worn wove paper, the vertical composition depicting the blue-skinned God Krishna playing his flute attracting cows, their calves, and three peacocks, a gopi wearing a red shawl over her head, possibly Radha, also joining the scene with a peacock's feather whisk, in the background a lotus pond and golden buildings with chhajja structures, possibly a view of Bundi or of Kusum Sarovar, the "Lake of Flowers", one of the holy sites on Govardhan Hill, Mathura, set within concentric polychrome borders, a narrow oval cartouche at the top with a faded inscription in white ink Devanagari script reading Krishna Chandra Govardhan (?), pasted onto a later leaf of lined paper, the painting 19cm x 14cm.