AN INDIAN MINIATURE PAINTING DEPICTING ARDHANARISHVARA AND WORSHIPPERS
India, 19th century. Ink and watercolors on paper. The half-male, half-female form of Shiva seated in dhyanasana on a tiger skin inside a shrine beside four worshippers. The right half is Shiva wearing a long white robe and with a snake coiled around his arm, and the left half is Parvati wearing characteristic robes and jewelry as well as holding a drum in her hand. A lady dressed in pink robes walks along the rolling hillside above the Ganges river with elephants, ducks, cranes, and fish.

Provenance: From a South German private collection, assembled during the 1970s. The reverse inscribed with several inventory numbers.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, soiling, creasing, small tears to edges, few minuscule losses, possibly minor touchups. Mounted and framed.

Dimensions: Image size 19 x 25.5 cm, Size incl. frame 33.5 x 42 cm

Ardhanarishvara ('the half-female Lord') is a form of the Hindu deity Shiva combined with his consort Parvati. Ardhanarishvara is depicted as half-male and half-female, equally split down the middle. The right half is usually the male Shiva, illustrating his traditional attributes. Ardhanarishvara represents the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies of the universe and illustrates how Shakti, the female principle of God, is inseparable from Shiva, the male principle of God, and vice versa. The union of these principles is exalted as the root and womb of all creation.

Literature comparison: Compare a related painting of Ardhanarishvara, dated c. 1800, in the collection of the British Museum, museum number 1940,0713,0.79.