Ganesh (tactile)

Synopsis

Late 19th century. Calcutta, Bengal, Kalighat style. Watercolour on paper. Size: 129 cm high and 100 cm wide. Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, 1995. 4-4. 01. The elephant-headed Ganesh is the god of new beginnings. Seated on his rat-vehicle, he is shown haloed and wearing the typical Bengali crown. This painting comes from the area around the goddess Kali's temple at Kalighat, on the banks (ghats) of the river Hooghly in Calcutta. The colours on the painting are tones of blue, red, grey and black on a cream background. Ganesh is facing the viewer with his head very slightly turned to his right and his trunk held out to his right. One tusk has been drawn over the base of the trunk, pointing to his right. His large fan-like ears are shown at the side of his head. Large eyebrows arch over slightly slit eyes, either side of the start of the trunk. Ganesh's mouth is just under the trunk near his neck. The trunk and face are painted in blue with the eyes and eyebrows in black and mouth in red. He is seated, his legs folded underneath his body in the lotus position with only his right foot showing, on a large blue cushion which is being carried on the back of a large rat. The rat is facing to the left of the painting and has been painted very lightly in blue making it look almost translucent. The rat's long tail is curled along the side of its body. Ganesh is naked apart from a piece of cloth covering his groin area and a thick black twisted rope belt around his waist. His body is painted in shades of red and he has a fat belly. On his head is a jewelled crown that is surrounded by a large circular "spikey" halo. A long necklace hangs from his neck down to his feet. Several thinner necklaces of different lengths are painted onto body as body decoration. Ganesh has four arms, two on each side of his body. He is holding something in each hand but only one of the items is clearly recognisable as a flower (lower right arm). Each arm has a bangle around the wrist and body decoration at the wrist, just above the elbow, upper arm and around the ankle. The tactile image, solid texture has been used for the body, arms and legs. Solid texture also shows his long trunk, eyes and eyebrows, nose, facial decoration, jewelled crown (with hollows for the jewels) and the halo. His ears are thick lines with thinner lines inside to show detail. The objects in Ganesh's hands are thick lines with hollow centres. A rough texture shows the rat-vehicle, rope belt, Ganesh's hair and tusk. A smoother texture shows the cushion. For simplicity, the cloth covering the groin, body decoration and necklace have been omitted. Braille labels: halo, left upper arm, right upper arm, arm, flower, cushion, and rat-vehicle.

Copyright:

2011

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Publisher:

RNIB

Date of Addition:

05/22/17

Copyrighted By:

rnib

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Religion and Spirituality

Submitted By:

Chantelle Hughes

Proofread By:

N/A

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.