Unknown artist
The Descent of the Ganges
ca. 1800
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions
- 14.6 × 10 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-127699
This is a lovely colored drawing with an assured line, gracefully engaged figures, and an evocative, hazy mountain landscape. Its subject is an unusual rendering of the canonical Hindu narrative in which the Ganges (the goddess Ganga) descends through Shiva's jata (dreadlocks) to save the earth from a devastating drought. Ganga is often represented in Shiva's hair, as much an emblem of Shiva as h…
Provenance
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art
Registry history
- ca. 1800 — Recorded in the collection of National Museum of Asian Art
Registered on Collect24
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