Krishna and Companions Watching Elephants and Deer,

19th century

Krishna, instantly recognizable by his blue skin, sits on a terrace with three female companions, looking out over a well-appointed parkland. Groups of animals, including elephants and deer, lounge under flowering trees. As in other Indian paintings of landscape and architecture, several birds are present in this scene; one fishes in the pond in front of the elephants, a pair daintily pick their way along the edge of the ornamental lotus pond, another perches in a tree above the three soldiers in the bottom right corner of the painting, and a proud peacock struts along in the foreground.