Handpainted – Pichwai – Shrinathji in Ebony and Vermilion

Provenance

'Shrinathji in Ebony and Vermilion' renders the deity with a dark face, a treatment found in Pichwai alongside the more familiar blue, and sets him against a glowing red niche. The painting follows the Nathdwara arrangement of a central standing figure within a rectangular frame, surrounded by cows on a field of sky blue. The dark face and red ground give it more weight and drama than its lighter companions.

The deity wears a jewelled crown with a peacock-feather halo, raises his left arm with a green cloth wound around the hand, and holds lotus buds and a flute at his side. A yellow-orange skirt flares in pleated tiers around his crossed feet, and pink lotus-petal garlands frame a long chest of white beadwork. The sky-blue border is scattered with small dark flowers, and the cows around it alternate between white and golden-tan, three of them facing the viewer from the right. Red roundels with white dotted edges sit at the lower corners above a cream platform and a row of gold stands.

Vermilion and sky blue are the two strongest colours here, with yellow, green and pink arranged between them. The dark face and the black cord at the right are the heaviest notes in the painting and balance the brightness of the border. Fine white dots on the garments and the niche edge add a sparkle that keeps the surface lively, even at a distance.