Chitra Darshana Nayika (The Heroine Who Gazes at a Picture of Her Absent Beloved)

Kripal (active about 1660–1690)

1660–70

Object PlaceBasohli or Nurpur, Punjab Hills, Northern India

Medium/TechniqueOpaque watercolor, gold, silver and beetle wing on paper

DimensionsOverall: 22.3 x 32.6 cm (8 3/4 x 12 13/16 in.)

Credit LineRoss-Coomaraswamy Collection

Accession number17.2786

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Asia

InscriptionsObverse: in top margin, in Takri: "Citradarshana" and no. 133. Reverse: at bottom, 2 line inscription in Sanskrit in Devanagari: "Nivim hared urasijan-vilekhen-nakhena damtaschadamca dashanena dasheda kasmat, Itham patesa likhitam dayitam vilokya bala pureva vanaja hara vihara smakam. 133" = "Tearing at her skirt, vehemently marking her breasts with her nails and biting her lips with her teeth, and crying 'When (will he come)?' Thus regarding her lover depicted in the picture, the babe is afraid that he may be taking his pleasure in the groves."

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)