Handpainted – Pichwai – Shrinathji in the Peacock Garden

Provenance

'Shrinathji in the Peacock Garden' is a Pichwai painting on a black ground in which great fanned peacocks surround a small standing figure of the deity. The peacock is a favourite Pichwai motif, linked with the monsoon and with the feather in Krishna's crown, and here the birds take over the composition, turning the picture into a dense, shimmering garden.

Shrinathji stands at the centre with a halo, a peacock-feather crown and a raised arm holding a blue cloth, a pink lotus at his side and long strands of beads down his figure. Around him, peacocks spread their tails into round fans, three above and three below, with further birds turning in profile and four white peahens drawing close to the deity. Three banana plants rise over flowering shrubs at the top, and a band of pink lotuses and green leaves runs along the base.

Black, deep green and peacock blue dominate, with coral, white and the pink of the lotuses as accents. Each tail is painted with close feathering and tiny eye markings, giving the surface a rich, patterned density. A yellow border of pink flowers and green leaves frames the scene. It is a dramatic and distinctive Pichwai for a statement wall.