Complete Description
Pigments sur toile de coton, les dieux saisissent les extrémités du serpent Basuki enroulé autour du mont Mandara, provoquant le barattage de l’océan de lait, les dieux Vishnu et Bruna sont dépeints dans la partie inférieure, le dieu Indra est assis au sommet de la composition, encadré d’une bordure de pétales stylisées, montée sur châssis.
Dim. : 158 x 169 cm
Inspired by a major episode of the Mahabharata, this composition depicts the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, during which gods and demons join forces to obtain amrita, the nectar of immortality. They churn the ocean by pulling on the serpent Vasuki, coiled around Mount Mandara, itself supported by Vishnu in the form of a tortoise. Faithful to Balinese pictorial traditions, the scene condenses several moments of the narrative into a single image, blending mythological storytelling with local interpretations drawn from oral tradition.
Paintings illustrating this same scene in a very similar style are held in the Australian Museum (inv. E74163 and E74177) (Florek, S., “The Churning of the Milky Ocean: Balinese Paintings E74163 and E74177”, Australian Museum, 2018).
This painting is almost identical to a painting in the WereldMuseum (formerly Tropen Museum) in Amsterdam which was illustrated on the catalogue cover of an 1972 exhibition of Balinese paintings of the first half of the 20th century (see Bali, an adventure in cultural ecology, hedendqqgse schilderkunst van Bali, Kosmos, Amsterdam, Tropenmuseum, 1972, cat. 1
