Indian art

Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and eastern Afghanistan. A strong sense of design is characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern and traditional forms.Seated Buddha, 5th century CE, Sarnath MuseumMahishasuramardini, Dashavatara TempleKrishna killing the horse-demon Keshi, ca. 5th century CE, Metropolitan Museum of ArtIron Pillar of Delhi known for its rust-resistant composition of metals, ca. 3rd–4th century CE,Cave 3 at the Badami cave temples (Early Chalukya dynasty, c. 6th century CE)Shore Temple of Mamallapuram (Pallava dynasty, 700–728 CE)Youth in lotus pond, ceiling fresco at Sittanvasal, 850 CEChola bronze sculpture of Shiva as Nataraja, the Lord of DanceArghan Div Brings the Chest of Armor to Hamza, from Volume 7 of the Hamzanama, supervised by Samad, ca. 1562—1577. Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton.Abu'l-Fazl presenting Akbarnama to Akbar. Mughal miniature.Krishna playing flute, ca. 1790—1800, Guler/Kangra region. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.Jama Masjid, Delhi, Willam Carpenter, 1852. Watercolor.Jahangir in Darbar, from the Jahangir-nama, c. 1620. Gouache on paper.Portrait of the emperor Shah Jahan, enthroned. ca. 17th century.Southern view of the Taj Mahal, captured 2012.A durbar scene with the newly crowned Emperor Aurangzeb.The Char Minar mosque in Hyderabad. Completed in 1591.Bidriware water-pipe base, ca. 18th century, Los Angeles County Museum of ArtThe Gol Gumbaz mausoleum in Bijapur, Karnataka. Completed in 1656.Portrait of Abu'l Hasan, the last Sultan of Golconda. ca. late 17th—early 18th century.Chand Bibi hawking, an 18th-century Deccan painting, gouache heightened with gold on paper.Company painting by Dip Chand (c. 1760 – c. 1764) depicting an official of the East India CompanyTipu's Tiger, an 18th-century automata with its keyboard visible. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.Shakuntala by Raja Ravi Varma (1870). Oil on canvas.Asoka's Queen by Abanindranath Tagore (c. 1910). Chromoxylograph. Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and eastern Afghanistan. A strong sense of design is characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern and traditional forms. The origin of Indian art can be traced to pre-historic settlements in the 3rd millennium BC. On its way to modern times, Indian art has had cultural influences, as well as religious influences such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Islam. In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions, generally, the prevailing artistic style at any time and place has been shared by the major religious groups. In historic art, sculpture in stone and metal, mainly religious, has survived the Indian climate better than other media and provides most of the best remains. Many of the most important ancient finds that are not in carved stone come from the surrounding, drier regions rather than India itself. Indian funeral and philosophic traditions exclude grave goods, which is the main source of ancient art in other cultures. Indian artist styles historically followed Indian religions out of the subcontinent, having an especially large influence in Tibet, South East Asia and China. Indian art has itself received influences at times, especially from Central Asia and Iran, and Europe. Rock art of India includes rock relief carvings, engravings and paintings, some (but by no means all) from the South Asian Stone Age. It is estimated there are about 1300 rock art sites with over a quarter of a million figures and figurines. The earliest rock carvings in India were discovered by Archibald Carlleyle, twelve years before the Cave of Altamira in Spain, although his work only came to light much later via J Cockburn (1899). Dr. V. S. Wakankar discovered several painted rock shelters in Central India, situated around the Vindhya mountain range. Of these, the c. 750 sites making up the Bhimbetka rock shelters have been enrolled as a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the earliest paintings are some 30,000 years old. The paintings in these sites commonly depicted scenes of human life alongside animals, and hunts with stone implements. Their style varied with region and age, but the most common characteristic was a red wash made using a powdered mineral called geru, which is a form of Iron Oxide (Hematite). Despite its widespread and sophistication, the Indus Valley civilization seems to have taken no interest in public large-scale art, unlike many other early civilizations. A number of gold, terracotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the presence of some forms of dance. Additionally, the terracotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs. Much the most common form of figurative art found is small carved seals. Thousands of steatite seals have been recovered, and their physical character is fairly consistent. In size they range from ​3⁄4 inch to 1​1⁄2 inches square. In most cases they have a pierced boss at the back to accommodate a cord for handling or for use as personal adornment. Seals have been found at Mohenjo-Daro depicting a figure standing on its head, and another, on the Pashupati Seal, sitting cross-legged in a yoga-like pose. This figure has been variously identified. Sir John Marshall identified a resemblance to the Hindu god, Shiva. The animal depicted on a majority of seals at sites of the mature period has not been clearly identified. Part bull, part zebra, with a majestic horn, it has been a source of speculation. As yet, there is insufficient evidence to substantiate claims that the image had religious or cultist significance, but the prevalence of the image raises the question of whether or not the animals in images of the IVC are religious symbols. The most famous piece is the bronze Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro, which shows remarkably advanced modelling of the human figure for this early date.