THE ENTHRONED HINDU GODDESS OF KNOWLEDGE AND ART, SARASWATI
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE LONDON COLLECTION
Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu, South India, mid to late 19th century

Opaque pigments, gold leaf and sukka (limestone paste) on wood, the vertical composition depicting the Hindu goddess of Knowledge, Music and Art, Saraswati, the consort of Brahma, sitting on a rounded lotus throne, wearing a tall and heavily encrusted golden headdress topped by a wheel-like finial, several gold necklaces and bejewelled accessories with floral medallions, and a golden robe, holding in her hands her typical attributes such as the vina (musical instrument), a palm leaf book, and a rosary bead bracelet, two lotus flowers spraying from her throne and on her back streams of waters, a clear reference to the river Sarasvati, the scene set underneath a lobed golden arch with green curtains and floral decoration on the squinches, within a templar complex with linear columns, against a bright red background, 61.5cm x 46cm.

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.