Goddess Matangi
Unknown Artist
ca. 1880–85
Medium
Lithograph, printed in black and hand-colored with watercolor and selectively applied glaze
Dimensions
Sheet: 15 1/8 × 11 in. (38.4 × 27.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture
West Bengal, Calcutta
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Robert and Bobbie Falk Philanthropic Fund Gift, 2021
Accession Number
2021.199
Art Historical Context
This vibrant lithograph depicts Goddess Matangi, a deity in Hindu Tantric traditions, revered as one of the ten Mahavidyas associated with knowledge, music, and the arts. Produced around 1880–85 in Calcutta (modern-day Kolkata), West Bengal it exemplifies the flourishing of popular print culture in 19th-century India. Calcutta's bustling print workshops blended European lithography with indigenous devotional imagery, making sacred art accessible to a wide audience beyond temple elites. Printed in black ink on paper and meticulously hand-colored with watercolor, the sheet (15 1/8 × 11 in.) fea...