Hand-Painted Marble Dust Ganesh ji on Lotus, 9 in

The form: Ganesh ji on a lotus

Ganesh ji sits cross-legged on a full, layered lotus, the seat that marks him as pure and auspicious. He has four arms. The two upper hands raise his emblems in gold: an axe on one side, an ornate curled emblem on the other. The lower right hand is turned to the viewer in blessing, with Om painted in red on the palm, and the lower left holds a heaped bowl of modaks, the sweets he loves; his trunk curls across to them. A tall crown rises above his head with a pointed halo behind it, and his vahana, a small gold mouse, waits at the edge of the lotus.

The painting: white and gold, on pink

Every colour on the piece is painted by hand after casting. The figure is white, and almost every ornament is worked in gold: the crown and halo border, the necklaces and sacred thread, the armlets and anklets, the edges of the dhoti and the emblems in his hands. The modaks are a soft cream, the ears and fingertips are touched with pink, and the lotus petals shade from white at the tips into a deep pink, each one marked with fine lines. It is a cheerful, festive Ganesh, the kind a family keeps at the front of the home mandir.

The size: 9 inches

The piece stands 9 inches tall and about 8 inches wide across the lotus, which is about 5 inches high. It sits comfortably in a home mandir, on a study or office desk where Ganesh ji is kept at the start of new work, or at the entrance of a new home. It is a natural size for Ganesh Chaturthi at home and for a griha pravesh or Diwali gift.

The material: cast marble dust

Marble dust composite is crushed marble bound in resin, cast in a mould and then finished and painted by hand. It takes fine gold work well, keeps a smooth bright white, and is lighter than solid stone of the same size. Dust it with a soft dry cloth or a soft brush; do not soak it or scrub the gold, and keep it out of strong direct sun so the colour lasts.

About the picture on this page

The photograph is of this design, cut out from the workshop photograph onto a plain backdrop. Nothing in the piece was redrawn or generated. Each piece is cast and painted by hand, so the painting can vary a little from one to the next.