This painting illustrates the happy conclusion of the Rukmini-haran, a story describing the princess Rukmini’s devotion to Krishna. Having escaped an unhappy betrothal to a powerful king, she travels to Krishna’s palace in Dvaraka to be wed to the blue lord.
The artist has used a combination of perspectives to illustrate the wedding ceremony and onlookers’ reactions. Krishna, Rukmini, and other participants in the ceremony are seen from above, yet the patterned surface of the palace walls that surround them runs along the painting’s bottom edge. This manipulation of interior and exterior spaces characterizes the work of Phurku, a painter who worked in the Kangra workshop for nearly forty years, and who may have executed this painting.
Details
- Title: Illustration from an Abduction of Rukmini Series: The Marriage of Krishna and Rukmini
- Date: c. 1800
- Medium: Opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions: image: 7-3/4 x 11-7/8 in. (19.7 x 30.2 cm); sheet: 9-7/8 x 13-3/8 in. (25.1 x 34.0 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Gift of Vineet and Floretta Kapoor
- Accession Number: P.2001.15
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Museum
Object Information
Tales of the Blue Lord
- Norton Simon Museum, 2007-11-09 to 2008-05-12
Painted Poems: Rajput Paintings from the Ramesh and Urmil Kapoor Collection
- Norton Simon Museum, 2004-04-02 to 2004-09-06
The Art of Giving: Recent Acquisitions of the Norton Simon Museum
- Norton Simon Museum, 2002-08-02 to 2002-11-04
- Pal, Pratapaditya, Painted Poems: Rajput Paintings from the Ramesh and Urmil Kapoor Collection, 2004, no. 40 pp. 12, 88-91
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