India, Uttar Pradesh, Jaunpur
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
4 5/8 x 11 1/2 in. (11.8 x 29.4 cm)
Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 1992 (1992.359)
This page is not entirely characteristic of Jain painting: the illumination is larger, the range of color wider, and the ornamentation more elaborate than usual. The work's provenance is Jaunpur in Central India, not Gujarat in western India, the primary Jain center. Nevertheless, the patterned surface made up of flat unmodeled forms outlined with wiry black lines, the use of mainly primary colors, the stylized facial type in which the far eye projects beyond the profile (a device derived from earlier painting styles), and the elaborate borders with scrolling foliate designs convey the essence of Jain style. It is one of the most important indigenous (pre-Mughal) Indian painting traditions to survive.
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Material and Technique
Object
Subject Matter/Theme
- Literature and Literary Connections
- Literature and Literary Connections, Liturgical Books
- Religious Art, Jainism
