This folio is one among a series of illustrations describing the life of Krishna as told through the Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana. Krishna’s beloved gopis, or milkmaids, and fellow cowherds approach the god with food offerings as he is seated upon Mount Govardhana, the site of one of his earliest feats. On the right, Krishna is depicted once more, in a more diminutive form, alongside his elderly foster father, Nanda; his pale-skinned brother, Balarama; and birth father, Vasudeva. The flat composition, lively color, and playful style is distinctive of Malwa painting, which is noted for its loyalty to earlier western Indian painting traditions as neighboring courtly schools became increasingly influenced by Mughal workshops.

The works of art from the collection of Dr. Robert and Mrs. Patricia Jacobsen in this sale and others of Asian Art Week Online reflect their interest in various areas of Asian art. This seems especially appropriate for Dr. Jacobsen, who has had a long and distinguished career in the field of Asian art, as a scholar, teacher, lecturer, and most notably as the Chair of Asian Art and Curator of Chinese, Indian, Himalayan, Southeast Asian and Islamic Art Department at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

During his tenure at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, which began in 1976 when Dr. Jacobsen was made the founding curator of the Department of Asian Art, what started as a 900-piece collection, primarily of ancient bronzes and Japanese prints, grew to a collection of 14,500 objects. He has organized and curated numerous exhibitions including Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection (1977); The Art of Japanese Screen Painting (1984); Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (1999); Imperial Silks: Ch’ing Dynasty Textiles in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (2000); and Appreciating China: Gifts from Ruth and Bruce Dayton (2002). He has written more than thirty scholarly articles and books on Asian art; most recently he was the author of Celestial Horses & Long Sleeve Dancers: The David W. Dewey Collection of Ancient Chinese Tomb Sculpture. His particular interests have been early Chinese art, Chinese architecture and classical Chinese furniture. It is the latter two interests, combined with the enthusiastic support of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, that led to the creation of one of the great public collections of classical Chinese furniture and scholar’s objects, and the galleries that house and highlight them, including a 400-year old Ming-dynasty reception hall and a Qing-dynasty scholar’s studio from 1797, which Dr. Jacobsen brought back from China.

Also see lots 8, 33, 35, and 45 for additional works from this collection.