Two ladies seated under a locust tree in flower

Object Details

• Court

  Mughal Court

• School/Tradition

  Mughal school

• Provenance

  ?-1936

  Heeramaneck Galleries (active 1928-1964), New York, NY, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  From 1936

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Heeramaneck Galleries [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See object file for copy of Heeramaneck Galleries invoice to Freer Gallery of Art, dated February 3, 1936, and marked approved on February 3, 1936. Object is described as, “Mughal-Rajput (Woman under tree).”

  Heeramaneck Galleries in New York, NY owned and operated by Nasli M. (1902-1971) and Alice N. Heeramaneck (née Arvine) (1910-1993). The Heeramaneck’s were dealers and collectors of Pre-Columbian and Asian art. Nasli Heeramaneck began his career as a dealer in Paris during the 1920s and relocated to New York, NY in 1927. In 1939, Nasli married Alice Arvine, an American portrait painter from New Haven, CT. Nasli founded Heeramaneck Galleries in New York, NY by 1928. He began to retire in 1964 and liquidated some of the gallery’s stock at auction at Parke-Barnet, New York in 1964 and 1965. Many objects from the Heeramaneck collection were either purchased or donated to American museums. Items from their collection may be found in The British Museum; the Cleveland Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Museum of New Delhi; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and Yale University.

  [2] See note 1.

  Research updated November 1, 2023

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Untitled Exhibition, South Asian Paintings, Gallery 4 (May 5, 1933 to January 9, 1945)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Heeramaneck Galleries (active 1928-1964)

• Origin

  India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1750s

• Name

  Heeramaneck Galleries

• Place

  India

• Topic

  Trees, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Drums (Membranophones), Music, Mughal dynasty (1526 - 1858), Lute

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings