Goddess Sarasvati
The goddess of learning, music and the arts is readily identified by the golden vina she rests on her shoulder and the bundle of palm-leaf books with their wooden covers and colored binding cords that she holds on her knee. As described in the iconographic sources, she has a white complexion and wears a gold-trimmed white sari, sits upon a white lotus that rises from a lotus pond. She rests one foot on her celestial vehicle, the white swan, the other on a white lotus foot-rest. The landscape setting combines lush forest with a palm tree and icy mountain ranges beyond, the latter alluding to Shiva’s abode.
Artwork Details
- Title: Goddess Sarasvati
- Date: 1878–1883
- Culture: West Bengal, Calcutta
- Medium: Lithograph, printed in black and hand-coloring with watercolor and selectively applied glaze
- Dimensions: Sheet: 15 7/8 × 12 1/2 in. (40.3 × 31.8 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Purchase, The Kipper Family Foundation Gift, 2021
- Object Number: 2021.203
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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