This figure represents "Mami Wata," the pidgin English term for "Mother of Water," a water spirit who has enjoyed a wide following in Central Africa, West Africa, and regions of the African Diaspora. It was carved by an Ibibio artist living in…
Albrecht Durer was the greatest and most innovative printmaker of the Renaissance. A native of Nuremberg, Germany, he had established an international reputation by the beginning of the sixteenth century with the publication of three woodcut series,…
The monumental size and extremely lifelike quality of this portrait of Coornhert (1522-1590), the master who taught Goltzius the art of engraving, are rivaled in this period only by the portrait of Goltzius engraved by his pupil Jan Muller. While…
Ravana’s sister Shurpanakha fell deeply in love with Rama when she encountered him in the forest. Rama, faithful to his wife, Sita, rejected the demoness’s advances and incited Lakshmana to punish her by cutting off her ears and nose. This manuscript…
This folio tells the story from the Adi Parva, the first book of the Mahabharata, of the eagle Garuda, who became the vahana (animal mount) for the god Vishnu. Garuda's mother Vinata and her co-wife Kadru had engaged in a wager that Vinata lost,…
It could be said that the Ramayana begins with a failure:
Rama should be king, but his rightful claim to the throne is denied.
Here king Dasharatha, having joyously resolved on the succession of his eldest son Rama, has sent the charioteer Sumantra…