BABY KRISHNA STEALING BUTTER (GHEE)
Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu, South India, early 19th century

Opaque pigments, gold leaf and sukka (limestone paste) on wood, the vertical composition depicting the beloved scene of Lord Krishna as a child stealing ghee (clarified butter) from his foster mother Yashoda, the child portrayed with a faint and contented smile on his face, holding the large butter jar under his arm and next to his hip, wearing an ornate and heavily encrusted headdress with the typical peacock's feather at the top, his accessories indicative of his relevance and divine nature, including several thick gold necklaces encrusted with red and green glass beads standing for rubies and emeralds; golden waistband; thick bejewelled armbands; wristbands; and anklets; a further ceremonial garland of fresh flowers around his shoulders and extending until the right foot, Baby Krishna flanked by his mother by birth, Devaki, to the right and his foster mother Yashoda to the left, both mothers heavily bejewelled and making offerings to the child, Yashoda a piece of butter and Devaki a flower, the scene set underneath a lobed golden arch with green curtains and raised flying angels on the squinches, to the bottom images of children with a cow with its calf, and a gazelle, mounted, glazed and framed, 61cm x 51cm including the frame.

The image of Baby Krishna as the thief of ghee can be considered one of the dearest and most popular subjects in Tanjore's painting. Usually commissioned by members of the South Indian aristocracy, the devotional scope of these paintings is still served to this day. For further reference on devotional icons from Tanjore, please see B. Rossi, From the Ocean of Painting, India's Popular Paintings, 1589 to the Present, 1998, pp. 82 - 89; and Anna L. Dallapiccola, Thanjavur's Gilded Gods: South Indian Paintings in the Kuldip Singh Collection, 2018. An almost identical painting, coming from the same private collection, successfully sold in these Rooms, 16 April 2021, lot 321.