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An opaque watercolor painting of a standing woman on a green background and red frame. She wears a purple skirt and a small red top. She wears armbands and a transparent cloth on her head. She carries a jug on top of her head.

A rectangular opaque watercolor painting of a standing woman on a green background and red frame. There is some black ink writing at the top of the image. She stands in the center of the page and faces the viewer’s right. She wears a long, wide purple skirt and a red short-sleeved cropped top. She wears gold armbands and a transparent cloth on her head with gold edges. She carries a jug on top of her head and her right hand is up by it with her left arm down at her side. Her black hair is down behind her head and curls around her face.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1972.359
People
Unknown Artist
Title
Woman Balancing a Gold Jug on her Head (painting, recto; text, verso)
Classification
Manuscripts
Work Type
manuscript folio
Date
c. 1800
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India, Rajasthan, Jodhpur
Culture
Indian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216272

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; Rajput Style
Dimensions
17.8 x 11.8 cm (7 x 4 5/8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Kenneth Galbraith
Accession Year
1972
Object Number
1972.359
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The recto side of the folio depicts a young female figure against a pistachio green background. She wears a chaniya choli, which consists of a red crop top and a long pink pleated skirt with gold trim. She wears a translucent white scarf decorated with gold dots and with gold trim around her head that wraps around her left shoulder and cascades down her back. Her body faces left, while her head turns the other direction. Her right arm is raised and her left arm is extended. She balances a large gold pot with a lid on her head. She wears bracelets, armlets, necklaces, earrings, a nose ring, and a head ornament. A gray and white scalloped line arches across the back, suggesting water or clouds. Rajput Style.

Publication History

  • Stuart Cary Welch and Milo Cleveland Beach, Gods, Thrones, and Peacocks Northern Indian Painting from Two Traditions, exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1965), page 100/figure 67

Exhibition History

  • Rasika, the Discerning Connoisseur: Indian Paintings from the John Kenneth Galbraith Collection, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/1998 - 04/05/1998
  • Water Stories: river goddesses, ancestral rites, and climate crisis, Radcliffe Institute Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, 09/18/2023 - 12/16/2023

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu