anonymous
‘Paithan’ (Chitrakathi) narrative painting
Can I see it?
Unknown
Where is “‘Paithan’ (Chitrakathi) narrative painting” now? Collection: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Unknown.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Two heroes on horseback are fighting a tiger that has already been slain. A dog bits the now harmless tiger in the leg. The tiger's body forms the background of the scene with only the tiger's eye, claws and teeth easy to spot.
Such paintings were used by itinerary bards (the chitrakathis) to accompany their storytelling. This scene does not seem to belong to any particular story, but was probably used when needed in various narratives.
The damage in the middle top portion of the paper comes from the way the paintings were handled during recitations.
Rijksmuseum
Details
- Accession number
- RP-T-2024-50
In the catalog
Sources
- Rijksmuseum
- Image: Rijksmuseum — public domain
