Markandeya Viewing Krishna in the Cosmic Ocean
Unknown Artist
c. 1680
Medium
Gum tempera on paper
Dimensions
20.5 × 15 cm · image: 15.2 × 10 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee
Accession Number
1967.241
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The anonymous court artist from a Hindu kingdom in the foothills of the Himalaya mountains has chosen a web of concentric abstract shapes to represent the cosmic ocean as the backdrop for this elegant, striking composition. The sage Markandeya received the dubious gift of immortality, so even after the destruction and dissolution of the world and all its creatures, he must carry on exhausted and alone through the cosmic ocean until the next world cycle begins. At one point in the darkness he saw...