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Chesta Chatura Nayaka (The Hero Who is Clever in Action)

Chesta Chatura Nayaka (The Hero Who is Clever in Action)

(active about 1660–1690)
1660–70
Object PlaceBasohli or Nurpur, Punjab Hills, Northern India
Medium/TechniqueOpaque watercolor, silver, gold, and beetle wing on paper
DimensionsOverall: 22.9 x 32.6 cm (9 x 12 13/16 in. )
Credit LineRoss-Coomaraswamy Collection
Accession number17.2785
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPaintings
Collections
InscriptionsObverse: in Takri, on top margin: "Cekhra catara satha." Number 109 on left margin. Reverse: in Devanagari, 2 line inscription, translated by Coomaraswamy: "Beloved, what are you doing with the golden orange in your hand? (So said) the moon-face as she placed a dot on the bright circles (bhanau) painted in the house" Alternate translation: "When the lover holds in his hand the golden lime fruit, the moon-faced nayika puts a dot on the sun painted on the wall."
ProvenanceBy 1916, purchased in India by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (b. 1887 - d. 1947); 1917, sold by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy to Denman Waldo Ross (b. 1853 - d. 1935), Cambridge, MA; 1917, given by Denman Waldo Ross to the MFA. (Accession date: April 5, 1917)