Shvetambara Jain Teacher Giving Instruction
c. 1750–60
Medium
gum tempera and gold on paper
Dimensions
20 × 27.9 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession Number
2018.171
Tags
About this artwork
A manuscript lies on a low table in front of the preacher, who holds one hand up in the gesture of discourse, and the other holds a cloth to shield his mouth from insects. The audience of laypeople includes men gathered near the front of the composition, and women in a group toward the back. The preacher and the white-clad figures behind him are Jain householder monks, permitted to grow hair and moustaches and to wear a colored shawl that indicates higher status. Householder monks in Rajasthan o...