Shesha Narayana
Unknown Artist
ca. 1900–15
Medium
Color lithograph, varnish
Dimensions
Sheet: 19 7/8 × 13 3/4 in. (50.5 × 34.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture
India
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, The Kipper Family Foundation Gift, 2021
Accession Number
2021.220
Art Historical Context
This striking color lithograph from early twentieth-century India depicts Shesha Narayana, the Hindu god Vishnu reclining upon the cosmic serpent Shesha. Created around 1900–1915, the print reflects a period when advances in lithography made vivid religious imagery widely available across the subcontinent. The addition of varnish enhances the colors and gives the surface a luminous, almost devotional glow, a technique often used to elevate these affordable images for home altars and personal worship. As a product of Indian print culture, the work belongs to a tradition of popular devotional a...