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Celestial Musician (The Lyre Player)

1947–48
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
As an accomplished concert musician, Srimati had an empathy for music-related themes, a favorite being celestial musicians, or gandharvas. The term means “fragrances,” alluding to the rasa, the flavors of the senses. As semidivine beings, gandharvas occupy the heavenly spheres and serve as musicians of the gods. This composition was reworked on a larger scale in 1967, when the artist was commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution to produce a limited-edition etching for a peace convention held in Geneva that year.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Celestial Musician (The Lyre Player)
  • Artist: Y. G. Srimati (Indian, 1926–2007)
  • Date: 1947–48
  • Culture: India (Chennai)
  • Medium: Watercolor on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 14 3/4 in. × 9 in. (37.5 × 22.9 cm)
    Mat: 22 × 28 in. (55.9 × 71.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Lent by Michael Pellettieri
  • Rights and Reproduction: © M. Pellettieri
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art