Jain Tirthankara and a monk with animal forest scene, no. 12 from a Digambara series / Artist Unknown, India, Sirohi School
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1975/2.178
- Title
- Jain Tirthankara and a monk with animal forest scene, no. 12 from a Digambara series
- Artist Nationality
- Indian
- Medium and Support
- ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
- Object Creation Date
- 18th century
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- India (nation)
- Rajasthan (state)
- Sirohi (inhabited place)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- India (nation)
- Creation Place 3
- Rajasthan (state)
- Creation Place 4
- Sirohi (inhabited place)
- Style/Group/Movement
- Jaina and Rajasthani painting
- Dimensions
- 28.89 cm x 18.73 cm (11 3/8 in. x 7 3/8 in.)
- Century
- 18th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Books and Folios
- Primary Object Type
- leaf
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- album leaf
- Physical Description
- Two distinct registers divide a page in half. At the top, a yellow-orange colored nude jina sits in lotus position upon a three tiered throne [a patterned blue level at the bottom on feet, with an orange section with gold and red decoration and a green level at the top with gold vertical stripes]. He sits against a red background adorned with a pattern of three white dots. The background takes the shape of an elegant cusped arch with a green and white pattern along its outside with a gold pattern at its sides. To the right of the seated figure a nude Digambara monk sits with his legs folded and one knee up on a less elaborate throne with a lota or pot at the corner and a crossed bookstand to the side holding a book with some devanagari writing on it. He raises his right arm and holds his left to his ear.
- Placed under a band of curving yellow stripes, the bottom register represents animals in a landscape. At the bottom are clumps of grass with four stylized mountain forms in blue at the right. Above the mountains stands a tiger facing a family of antelope striding towards him. The family consists of the blue male with his long spiraling horns and a yellow doe below him with a flesh-colored in front of her. Another small yellow fawn takes up the rear. Clumps of light blue and green grasses fill in the background.
- Subject Matter
- The stark picture reflects essential features of the Jain faith: the ideal of renunciation, meditation on the Jina, and reliance on canonical texts. Dedication of sacred books is required of Jain devotees, and book production reflects the integral relationship between the laity, monastic community, and the Jina. Commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, while beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance.
- It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the monk’s temple library. Over the centuries, libraries received great quantities of texts, which were employed in the instruction of monks and nuns. Monks and nuns were discouraged, however, from practicing the art of painting: one text expressly warns them of the power of painting to arouse sensual feelings.
- Primary Keywords
- antelopes
- book
- deer
- deity
- does
- grass (plant material)
- jainism
- kettles
- landscapes (environments)
- men
- monk
- mountains
- nudes
- pot
- tiger
- Secondary Keywords
- upward
- animals and creatures
- associated concepts
- buildings and the land
- containers
- containers by form
- descriptors
- figures (representations)
- information artifacts
- information artifacts by physical form
- information forms
- landforms
- landforms and landform components
- landforms by shape or position
- mammals
- materials
- materials by origin
- natural landscapes
- objects we use
- people
- people (agents)
- people and culture
- people by gender
- people by occupation
- people by state or condition
- people in religion
- people in religion and related occupations
- people in the humanities
- plant material
- religions
- religions and religious concepts
- religious (people)
- settlements and landscapes
- vessels
- visual works
- visual works by subject type
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 901 x 1325
- File Size
- 164 KB
- Record
- 1975/2.178
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1975-sl-2.178/1975_2.178.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
- In public portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1975-SL-2.178:1975_2.178.JPG
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- Full citation
-
"Jain Tirthankara and a monk with animal forest scene, no. 12 from a Digambara series; Artist Unknown, India, Sirohi School." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1975-sl-2.178/1975_2.178.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 19, 2024.
