The story
Bal Gopal — Krishna as a chubby, crawling child — is among the most beloved forms in Indian devotional art. Anil renders him in pale shadu clay, the natural material that dissolves without harming the rivers it returns to.
Every figure in this edition is finished with pigment Anil grinds and mixes by hand. No synthetic colour is ever used, which is why the tones are soft and slightly different on each piece.
Only twelve will be made. Each is numbered on the base.
The making
From earth to object
Shadu clay idol making · 120+ years — a tradition kept alive by hand.
- 01
Natural shadu clay
Sourced locally and purified by hand, shadu is soft, pale, and fully water-soluble — gentle on rivers at immersion.
- 02
Hand modelling
The form is built and refined without plaster moulds, keeping the soft character of the natural clay.
- 03
Mineral pigment
Colours are ground from minerals and mixed by hand in small batches, applied in thin devotional layers.
Where your money goes
0%
of this purchase is paid directly to Anil Kumbhar — the hands that made it.
How we pay our makers →Provenance
Certificate of authenticity
Every piece ships with a digital certificate recording exactly what you have collected, and the hand that made it.
- Artisan
- Anil Kumbhar
- Craft origin
- Shadu clay idol making · 120+ years
- Created
- 2026, Pen, Maharashtra
- Materials
- Shadu clay, hand-mixed mineral pigment
- Edition
- Edition of 12
- Maker's mark
- Mineral pigments mixed by hand; no synthetic colour ever used.
The maker
Anil Kumbhar
Festival clay idols · Pen, Maharashtra
From the idol town of Pen, Anil Kumbhar makes Ganpati figures in natural shadu clay — the kind that returns cleanly to the water it came from.
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