Maharana Amar Singh II with his consort in a garden pavilion

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

• Origin

  Udaipur, Rajasthan state, Mewar, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase and partial gift made in 2012 from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s

• Name

  Benkaim, Ralph, Benkaim, Catherine Glynn, Boman-Behram, Ardeshir Kavasji

• Place

  Udaipur, Rajasthan state, Mewar, India

• Topic

  Pavilion, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Peacock, Art, Sisodia dynasty (861 - 1947), Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Fountain, Gardens, Ruler, Musicians

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings