H x W (painting): 16.2 × 9.1 cm (6 3/8 × 3 9/16 in)
H x W (overall): 28.6 × 16.8 cm (11 1/4 × 6 5/8 in)
Type:
Painting
Origin:
Bikaner, Rajasthan state, India
Date:
ca. 1650
School/Tradition:
Bikaner school
Description:
The subject stands facing left against a brown background wearing a green turban, orange and white striped pants and a diaphanous jama. His gold patka is long and decorated with floral sprays.
Marks:
Personal seal of the Maharaja of Bikaner, dated August 19, 1964.
Inscriptions:
Verso: Inscribed in Nagari script: Muhat Kapur Chand #46, 3598 in blue pencil, no. 52, Khet Singh.
Verso: Inscribed in Nagari script: Muhat Kapur Chand #46, 3598 in blue pencil, no. 52, Khet Singh.
Provenance:
To at least 1964
Maharaja of Bikaner [1]
From at least 1969 to 1977
Chhote Bharany, New Delhi and the USA [2]
From 1977 to 2001
Ralph Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, purchased from Chhote Bharany in Los Angeles in October 1977
From 2001 to 2008
Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim after his death in 2001
From 2018
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim
Notes:
[1] According to Catherine Glynn Benkaim, 6.14.16, the Raja of Bikaner began selling off his collection in the 1960s. He sold a large group of paintings to Kevin Delahanty, an Englishman, and many paintings to Edwin Binney III (1925 - 1986).
He also sold paintings to the Delhi-based dealer Chhote Bharany, who deposited a cache of paintings in the United States around 1969 and sold them off over years, as per Gurshuran Sidhu.
[2] Bharany took all of his paintings out of India before the Emergency (most probably in 1969) and kept them with William Wolff in New York. This painting was likely in the cache of Bharany paintings kept at the William Wolff gallery. According to conversation with Gurshuran Sidhu. Ralph Benkaim purchased the painting from Chhote Bharany in 1977. All of the Benkaim Bharany paintings were purchased in the United States, as per conversation with Catherine Glynn Benkaim between May 23 and 24, 2016.
Collection:
National Museum of Asian Art Collection
Previous custodian or owner:
Maharaja of Bikaner (Bikaner, Rajasthan state, India)
