Indian Pichvai or Devotional Shrine Hanging

Blue-faced figure waits in a moonlit grove ringed by dozens of tiny panels.

This pichvai or devotional shrine hanging is from Nathdwara, Rajasthan, India, and dates to the late 19th century. It is pigment & cotton. The Nathdwara School, known for soft colors, many pigments and gold foil, almost always shows Krishna as Shrinathji, a young blue boy dressed in rich garments, jewelry and flower garlands. Cloth showing a central standing figure and a halo, two attendants on each side, and banana leaves above. A busy border of tiny framed scenes surrounds it, and a pale town and water fill the foot. It is 47 inches wide and 67 high.

A main event surrounded by a hundred side stories.