I. Wood Craft, Ivory & Metal Gallery
The major collections of this gallery pertaining to Krishna theme consist of a variety of art objects such as woodcarvings, metal castings, and ivory carvings. Since time immemorial wood has been used in India for building and decorative purposes. The wood carver evolves his style according to the qualities of the wood. The gallery comprises a wide range of wooden sculptures mostly from Orissa, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Interesting among the wooden objects displayed here are the four wooden panels showing the incarnations of Lord Vishnu and scenes from Krishna’s early life. The style is typical of Orissa and belongs to the 18-19th century AD. Other Orissan wooden panels also show quite in effective manner the scenes, like Aristhavadha, Kesivadha, Dadhimanthana, Kubjanugraha, Putanavadha, etc. Wood carvings from Tamilnadu include some stylistically massive and thematically interesting specimens such as Venugopal, standing cross-legged with a flute held in both hands, Dasavatara, Kaliyamardana, Gajendramoksha, etc. The artists from Karnataka have specialized in sandalwood carving. One such fine specimen is an exquisitely carved image of Krishna along with the episode of Gajendra Moksha. other important display of this gallery are the metal objects which include various exploits of Krishna such as Bal-Krishna, Yashoda-Krishna, Navanita-Krishna, Venugopala, Krishna with gopis, Kaliyamardana, Krishna with Rukmini and Satyabhama, etc. Notable among the metal sculptures are Kaliyamardana from Tamilnadu, and Yashoda with Krishna and Balarama and Varaha Avatara from Ganjam (Orissa). Among the notable ivory collections of this gallery is a beautiful ivory figure of Krishna standing in tribhanga pose. Some smaller pieces showing scenes from Krishna’s life are also displayed here. Special notice should be taken of an ivory plaque with the painting of the Govaradhana scene in late Mughal style, c.18th century AD.