Gajalakshmi: Lakshmi with Elephants
Unknown Artist
c. 1890
Medium
Gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper
Dimensions
painting only: 43 × 27.7 cm · secondary support: 60.7 × 42.4 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward
Accession Number
2003.149
About this artwork
Seated on a lotus in the yoga lotus position (padmasana), Lakshmi (wife of Vishnu and goddess of fortune, prosperity, and beauty) is flanked by elephants that anoint her and express their devotion by bathing her with water from the pot held aloft with their trunks. The lotus seat serves as a throne while the elephants’ trunks form an arch within which she is enshrined.