Vertical painting of birds and flowering plants

Dateearly 21st century

Label TextThe Khovar style within Adivasi painting is completed during spring, which coincides with the marriage season. Using a black-and-white color scheme and depicting nature themes, Khovar-style works were traditionally used to decorate marriage chambers and in matrimonial ceremonies. The style’s techniques have been passed down from mothers to daughters, and they are related to the comb-cut practices seen in ceramic decorations. Spring, love, and ceramics are all referenced in this painting through the presence of a flower, a bird couple, and a ceramic vase.

Object number2022.30.14

ProvenanceThe artist (Tribal Women Artists Cooperative, Hazaribagh, India); gifted and sold, via Bulu Iman (Founder, Tribal Women Artists Cooperative), to Joseph Reid (d. 2016), Winthrop, Washington, 2008; bequeathed to Batya Friedman, Seattle, Washington, 2016; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022

Photo CreditPhoto: Scott Leen

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view beginning Jan. 13, 2023].

Credit LineGift of Joseph E. Reid and Batya Friedman

DimensionsPainting: 30 1/4 x 22 1/2 in. (76.8 x 57.2 cm) Mat: 34 1/4 x 26 in. (87 x 66 cm)

MediumKhovar black-and-white comb-cut sgraffito on paper