BABY KRISHNA STEALING BUTTER (GHEE) Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu, South India, late 19th century Opaque pigments, gold leaf and sukka (limestone paste) on wood, the small vertical-format composition depicting Lord Krishna as a child stealing ghee (clarified butter) from his foster mother Yashoda, the child portrayed with a faint and contented smile on his face, holding the large butter jar under his arm and next to his hip, heavily adorned and wearing a ceremonial garland of fresh pink flowers on his shoulders; Baby Krishna flanked by his foster mother Yashoda to the left, making an offering of a ghee ball to the child, the scene set underneath a lobed golden arch with green curtains, at the bottom a frieze with a devotee offering a ghee ball prasada to a white cow, mounted, glazed and framed, 25.5cm x 20cm including the frame.

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