Fortune III

Akira Kurosaki

Showa period (1926-1989), 1975

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ship
2 of 4 (1988.82.101-.104)
Venugopala playing a long flute, standing with one leg cocked behind the other and hips akimbo. He is dressed in a light dhoti and wears a crown made of peacock feathers fastened to the front of his tall chignon. He plays the flute with two of his four hands. In the other hands he holds a cakra (wheel/discuss) and a sankha (conch shell), two of the Hindu mythical treasures. The cakra represents the cycle of life and death. The sankha represents a musical instrument, the sound of which scars away demons.
Ku35. The kalash is a vessel traditionally used in Hindu worship, or puja, to hold water, milk, or ghee, for pouring over a deity. This kalash is decorated in the traditional Kutch coriander motif, but superimposed on that pattern are the animal depictions that are the mark of Oomersee Mawji. Mawji, particularly among all other Indian smiths, was able to breathe life into his animals, as he showed the anguish of a mortal attack, the adrenaline rush of a hunt, or the scampering of a deer. The kalash is an example of Oomersee at his best.