Kantha (Embroidered Quilt)

Currently not on view

Kantha (Embroidered Quilt)

19th century

Artist/maker unknown, Bengali

Crisscrossed by innumerable rivers and embankments, Bengal centered around the lush and frequently flooded deltaic lowlands where the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system empties into the Bay of Bengal. Wet rice cultivation has long been the primary agricultural activity, and fish a favored food. It is not surprising, then, that aquatic imagery-both prosaic and divine-figures so prominently in the arts of Bengal. At the bottom of this kantha, for example, the four-armed goddess Ganga, personification of the Ganges River, sits atop her makara (a fish-crocodile with elephant trunk). Continuing the riverine theme, the flute-wielding god Krishna is shown at top ferrying the gopis (cowherd women) across the Jamuna River in a boat with a peacock prow and makara stern, a form of pleasure craft peculiar to Bengal.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Kantha (Embroidered Quilt)

Date:

19th century

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Bengali

Medium:

Cotton plain weave with cotton embroidery in back, buttonhole, darning, satin, running, eye, and fern stitches

Dimensions:

32 x 34 5/16 inches (81.3 x 87.2 cm)

Classification:

Textiles

Credit Line:

Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994

Accession Number:

1994-148-700

Geography:

Made in Undivided Bengal, Asia Possibly made in Bangladesh, Asia Possibly made in West Bengal, India, Asia

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Currently not on view