1894.28.2.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Painted wooden figure of Subhadrâ [1], sister of Jagannath with separate paper crown [.2].

Geographical reference

India

Asia > Southern Asia > India

Odisha Puri

Person

Field collector William Crooke

PRM source William Crooke

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1894

Date collected

By 1894

Acquisition information

Donated: 06/06/1894

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Material Textile, Material Paper Plant, Process Painted, Process Carved, Process Woven, Process Stitched

Dimensions

Width: max 240 mm, Depth: max 200 mm, Height: max 624 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1894.28.2.1 Accession number: 1894.28.2.2

Research and responses

Jagannatha - (Sanskrit: "Lord of the World"), form under which the Hindu god Krishna is worshiped at Puri, Orissa, one of the most famous religious centres of India, and at Ballabhpur, a suburb of Shrirampur, West Bengal. The 12th-century temple of Jagannatha in Puri towers above the town. In its sanctuary, roughhewn wooden images represent Jagannatha, his brother Balabhadra (Balarama), and his sister Subhadra. [Encyclopaedia Britannica online] [AP 4/1/2002]

Associated publications

This object features in the Museum's audio tour produced in 2010. Transcription as follows: “These three figures are models of the three main temple gods in the Hindu Temple of Jagannath in Northwest India. Jagannath himself is represented with black skin, his brother Balarama is fair, and his sister Subhadra’s image is painted yellow. The gods are manifestations of Krishna and are given equal respect and worship. When these figures were chosen for this display, they were first brought to the Conservation Studio. Despite being well over one hundred years old, the wooden figures themselves were in good condition. However, their clothing and crowns needed many hours of conservation work before they could go on display. The cotton fabric of the robes had become brittle over time, and the weight of the metal braid along the edges of the costume had caused it to tear in many places. We backed the tears with a fine net fabric made of silk, which was glued in places as the cotton was too fragile to stitch through. This was done on the inside of the clothing but if you look carefully, you might be able to see the patches of backing material. The adhesive we used can be removed easily and the backing material taken away in the future if necessary. The metal braid is made from thin strips of metal held together with silk thread. The silk thread had deteriorated over the years in many areas and the loose metal strips had become tangled. We wove the braid back together using fine polyester thread, untangling the metal strips as we went. This took a long time! The crowns are made from paper, decorated with metal foil and tinsel. The paper was dry and very brittle due to light damage. Torn areas had to be strengthened with a backing made from Japanese paper, which doesn’t contain acid and so won’t add to the damage on the crowns in years to come. Finally, the crowns had to be humidified using a very fine mist of water before they could be reshaped and fitted back onto the figures.” (Written by Helen Hales) [HH 26/10/2010] Illustrated in colour (with 1894.28.1 and 1894.28.2) on page 3 of the December 2009 issue of Blueprint [Staff News for the University of Oxford], where it illustrates the article 'Collections Win Queen's Anniversary Prize'. [JC 21 12 2009] Illustrated in colour (with 1894.28.2 and 1894.28.3) on page 45 of 'Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford', by Nicky Ryan, in Museums Journal (September 2009), pp. 42-45. Caption (same page): 'Jagannath, Subhadra [and] Balabhadra, three sibling deities modelled from statues from the 12th-century Indian temple at Puri'. [JC 8 10 2019] Illustrated in colour on page 161 of The Pitt Rivers Museum: A World Within, by Michael O’Hanlon (London: Scala, 2014). Caption (same page) reads: ‘119 Models of the three main gods of the Hindu Temple of Jagannath. Orissa, Northwest India Heights 624-710 mm Collected and donated by W. Crooke 1894.28.3; 1894.28.1; 1894.28.2 (left to right)' [MJD (Verve) 8/3/2016]

Search terms: Figure, Religion