Object Details
- Artist
- Attributed to the Stipple Master (Active 1692-1715)
- Sitter
- Rana Amar Singh II
- Court
- Mewar Court
- School/Tradition
- Rajput school
- Provenance
- ?-October 1972
- Ardeshir Kavasji Boman-Behram (1909-2000), method of acquisition unknown [1]
- October 1972-2001
- Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), purchased from Ardeshir Kavasji Boman-Behram in Bombay (now Mumbai), India [2]
- 2001-2012
- Catherine Glynn Benkaim, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim [3]
- From 2012
- Freer Gallery of Art, purchase and partial gift from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [4]
- Notes:
- [1] See curatorial justification titled “Four paintings from the reign of Rana Amar Singh II, Curatorial justification written by Debra Diamond,” dated April 26, 2012, p. 6, copy in object file.
- Ardeshir Kavasji Boman-Behram (1909-2000) was a collector, gallerist, and homeopathic doctor.
- Boman-Behram was born in Bombay (present-day Mumbai), India, to a prominent Parsi family. As a collector, little is known about Boman-Behram, but it is known that he was a collector of stone and bronze sculptures. In 1940, he married the Viennese expressionist dancer, Hilde Holger (1905-2001). Holger was of Jewish descent and had fled to India to escape Nazi persecution. Boman-Behram and his wife moved to London, England in 1948, first settling in Primrose Hill on Oval Road. He later moved to the Camden Town neighborhood where he established a medical practice in the 1960s until the late 1990s.
- [2] See note 1. The curatorial justification states that “[t]he Benkaims” purchased this object from Hodgkin. However, Ralph Benkaim was more likely the legal owner of this object since he and Catherine Glynn Benkaim were not married until 1979.
- Ralph Benkaim was an entertainment lawyer from Los Angeles who started collecting Indian and Islamic art in 1961.
- [3] See note 2.
- Catherine Glynn Benkaim is a collector and scholar in the field of Indian painting. Ms. Benkaim met her husband, Ralph Benkaim, in the 1970s when she was the curator of Indian painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The couple were married 1979 and together they amassed a collection of Indian paintings, which included examples from all genres. They collected objects for their collection through dealers and auctions. Objects from their collection may also be found in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Williams College Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, among others.
- [4] See “Appendix B Bill of Sale” and “Appendix C Donor Substantiation Letter,” dated August 20, 2012, copy in object file.
- Research updated February 7, 2023
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur (November 19, 2022 to May 14, 2023)
- Princes, Palaces, and Passion: The Art of India's Mewar Kingdom (February 02, 2007 to Sunday, April 29, 2007)
- Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas (October 16, 2004 to January 3, 2016)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Ardeshir Kavasji Boman-Behram (1909-2000)
- Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001)
- Catherine Glynn Benkaim
- Credit Line
- Purchase and partial gift made in 2012 from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
- ca. 1705
- Period
- Sisodia dynasty, Reign of Amar Singh II
- Accession Number
- F2012.4.4
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W (image-inside border): 32.1 × 22.5 cm (12 5/8 × 8 7/8 in)
- H x W x D (exhibition frame): 53.3 × 43.2 × 4.4 cm (21 × 17 × 1 3/4 in)
- Origin
- Udaipur, Rajasthan state, Mewar, India
- Related Online Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
- See more items in
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Topic
- peacock
- Sisodia dynasty (861 - 1947)
- pavilion
- garden
- India
- ruler
- fountain
- musician
- South Asian and Himalayan Art
- Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
- Record ID
- fsg_F2012.4.4
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3723c07f4-812e-44a7-9b7e-47c576e49e5f
