H x W (painting): 11.5 × 8.3 cm (4 1/2 × 3 1/4 in)
H x W (overall): 21.5 × 16 cm (8 7/16 × 6 5/16 in)
Type:
Painting
Origin:
Bikaner, Rajasthan state, India
Date:
dated 1687
Description:
A half-length portrait of a noble facing right with his right arm resting on a gold-bordered orange textile draped over a window ledge. His turban is draped in pearls, he wears numerous rubies, and his gold coat has a fur collar. The profile portrait within a jharokha window and the pale green ground are drawn from Mughal painting.
Inscriptions:
Verso: inscription in nagari script: Pata Saha bhaga nagar ro kam rukdi re bete ro sam. 1744 jeth Abul Hasan. Ruler of Bhaganagar by the son of Ruknuddin, vs. 1744/a.d. 1687, month of Jeth. Abul Hasan.
Top verso margin: Abdullah Qutub Shah
Top verso margin: Abdullah Qutub Shah
Provenance:
To 1967
Sri Moti Chand Khajanchi, Bikaner [1]
From 1967 to 2001
Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001),
purchased from Sri Moti Chand Khajanchi, Bikaner in December [2]
From 2001 to 2018
Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim in 2001
From 2018
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim
Notes:
[1] Ralph Benkaim purchased the painting from Sri Moti Chand Khajanchi, Bikaner in December 1967, several years before Indian paintings were classified as antiquities by the Indian government, according to his personal records, as relayed by Catherine Glynn Benkaim.
