Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Browse: 10610 objects

The elephant Ganesh Gaj and riderfront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Reference URL
?

Actions

Send e-mail

Contact us about this object

Send e-mail

Send to a friend

The elephant Ganesh Gaj and rider

  • loan

  • Description

    In this imposing portrait of Ganesh Gaj, the painter exaggerates his size to emphasise his grandeur. The rider is a prince in a floral robe, possibly a son of the emperor Aurangzeb. With its distant hilly landscape and a passing camel train, this picture may have been painted in one of the Mughal military camps in the Deccan.

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Asia › India › north India (place of creation)
    Date
    1660 - 1670
    Mughal Period (1526 - 1858)
    Material and technique
    gouache with ink and gold on paper
    Dimensions
    frame 45 x 61.7 x 2 cm (height x width x depth)
    painting 32.3 x 48.5 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper,
    processed material › metal › gold
    Technique index
    decorated › painted,
    painted,
    covered › coated › painted,
    marked › painted
    Object type index
    visual representation › painting,
    visual representation › album
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Lent by Howard Hodgkin.
    Accession no.
    LI118.55

  • Further reading

    Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2nd February-22nd April 2012, Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin, Andrew Topsfield, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012), no. 25 on p. 72, pp. 18 & 188, illus. pp. 73 & 287

Glossary

Ganesh

  • Ganesh

    Chubby elephant-headed Hindu deity and son of Shiva and Parvati. He is the god of wisdom, bestower of wealth, and remover of obstacles who is invoked at the beginning of any enterprise.

Past Exhibitions

see all (2)

Location

    • Returned to lender

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum