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Leaf from a Kalighat album: Sheetaladevi: The Smallpox Goddess (recto); Durga (verso)
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward
Museum

Leaf from a Kalighat album: Sheetaladevi: The Smallpox Goddess (recto); Durga (verso)

c. 1890

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Public evidence
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Provenance

Public
?-2003

William E. Ward [1922-2004], Solon, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art

2003-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Source provenance text

William E. Ward [1922-2004], Solon, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Exhibitions

Public
Source exhibition text

Indian Kalighat Paintings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 1-September 18, 2011).

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%
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Sourced Overview Evidence

Sheetala, the smallpox goddess, is simultaneously benevolent and dangerous: she can both protect and infect, bless and curse devotees with smallpox and other diseases. Persons scarred by smallpox are believed to have been graced by her. She is appeased so that she does not infect her worshippers. Her name, Sheetala, “Cool One,” refers to her birth out of a cooled sacrificial fire. The rippled curtains above her are suggestive of theatrical tableau and <em>Sheetalapala</em> (The Drama of Sheetala) that was performed in Bengal. She sits astride her vehicle (<em>vahana</em>), the donkey, regarded as an inauspicious animal.

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Evidence state

0 observed sales · 0 comparable sales · 2 structured provenance events · 0 structured exhibitions.

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