Krishna steals the clothes of the gopis, folio from a Bhagavata Purana

This oversize folio depicts a magical landscape that glimmers from a gold-flecked wash over its surface. It is dawn, and the sky and distant hills are bathed in fog and tinged with streaks of gold. Seated in a kadamba tree draped with garments, Krishna watches the gopis emerge from the river after a swim. The mischievous Krishna has stolen the gopis' clothes and placed them them on the tree's branches. Realizing they have been tricked, the gopis hide their naked bodies in the river or behind trees as they beg for Krishna to return their clothing. The episode is one of the most important in the sacred text; it is commonly interpreted as a metaphor for the need for devotees to relinquish their egos in order to truly connect with god.

The large-size Bikaner Bhagavata Purana manuscript was produced during the reign of Maharaja Anup Singh of Bikaner (r. 1674-98) who, while in the service of Aurangzeb in the Deccan, set up a court in Hyderabad. The style of the folio speaks to Bikaner's connections with both Mughal and Deccani court culture, revealing how brilliantly its artist drew upon and synthesized multiple visual traditions. The leaves of the trees and the figures are rendered parallel to the picture plane in the manner that is traditional to western Indian and Rajput painting. The landscape' spatial recession and its rounded hills swathed in mist and dotted with small trees are reminiscent of distant landscapes in Shah Jahan period painting. And the mauve and pink palette recalls the orchid-like pastels favored in the Deccan.