Hermit Beside a Stream

Place of OriginIndia

DateEarly 18th century

DimensionsOverall: H. 11 1/16 in. (28.1 cm); W. 8 11/16 in. (22 cm).
Image: H. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm); W. 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm).

MediumWatercolor on paper

ClassificationDrawings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1926.16

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Princely Pursuits: Indian Miniature Painting, Aug. 22 - Nov. 30 2003, pp. 14-15, repr. (col.). (author Carolyn M. Putney)

Toledo Museum of Art, Earthly Beauty, May 29-Sept. 6, 2015.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Zebrowski, Mark, Deccani Painting.Label TextThis image depicts an elderly hermit whose disciple fans him with a flywhisk. A viewer at the time would have recognized that the older man, who sits in meditation on a tiger skin in front of a cave, is a devout Hindu ascetic and that he is a follower of the god Shiva, one of the three major deities of Hinduism. He has chosen a site beneath a tree and close to a stream. Such a natural setting—far from the village on the horizon—was especially auspicious for experiencing Shiva’s presence. Centuries-old artistic traditions popular in the courts of the Hindu sultans of the Deccan, the vast plateau of central India, are reflected in this miniature. The unknown artist worked in the Deccan shortly after its conquest by the Muslim Mughals in the late 17th century. The Mughals brought with them a new court style of painting that stressed realism and worldliness. However, this work’s style and subject matter are anchored in the region’s venerable Hindu painting tradition, which centered on the depiction of epic love, emotion or heroism, religious tales, or, as here, mysticism and spirituality.