Maharana Jagat Singh II hunting bear

Object Details

• Artist

  Jugarsi (active mid-18th century)

• Sitter

  Maharana Jagat Singh II (1734-1751)

• Court

  Mewar Court

• School/Tradition

  Rajput school

• Provenance

  Mid-eighteenth century-early 1970s

  Mewar Royal Collection [1]

  Early 1970s-?

  Ownership information unknown, Switzerland [2]

  ?-1986

  Dr. William K. Ehrenfeld (1935-2005), method of acquisition unknown [3]

  1986-2012

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim, acquired from Dr. William K. Ehrenfeld [4]

  From 2012

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchase and partial gift from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [5]

  Notes:

  [1] See the Mewar Royal Collection number 9/232, inscribed in red ink on the back of the object. According to Debra Diamond, Curator for South and Southeast Asian Art, National Museum of Asian Art, on March 27, 2023, the “notations written in red ink are from one of the two late nineteenth-century inventories of the Udaipur court paintings kept in the royal painting storeroom (jotdān).”

  See also curatorial justification titled “Two paintings from the reign of Maharana Jagat Singh, Curatorial justification written by Debra Diamond,” April 26, 2012, pp. 2-3, copy in object file. This object was presumably part of the large group of paintings sent by the Maharana Bhagwat Singh Mewar (1921-1984) to Switzerland in the early 1970s.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

  Dr. William K. Ehrenfeld was a notable vascular surgeon, professor, and collector of Southeast Asian and Indian art, including prints, photographs, and drawing. Most notable, Dr. Ehrenfeld was a collector of Indian painting, which he began collecting in the 1960s. Born in New Jersey, Dr. Ehrenfeld earned his medical degree from the New York Medical College in 1960 before relocating to San Francisco, California for a fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Ehrenfeld was introduced to Indian art while traveling as a lecturer and he regularly visited India and England to purchase objects for his collection. Many of the items from Dr. Ehrenfeld’s collection may be found at various San Francisco institutions, including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

  [4] See note 1.

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim is collector and scholar in the field of Indian painting. Ms. Benkaim met her husband, Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), in the 1970s when she was the curator of Indian painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Ralph Benkaim was an entertainment lawyer from Los Angeles who started collecting Indian and Islamic art in 1961. 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.

  [5] See “Appendix B Bill of Sale” and “Appendix C Donor Substantiation Letter,” dated August 20, 2012, copy in object file.

  Research updated February 14, 2023

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur (November 19, 2022 to May 14, 2023)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mewar Royal Collection

  Dr. William K. Ehrenfeld (1935-2005)

  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

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1720s, 1730s

• Name

  Mewar Royal Collection, Benkaim, Catherine Glynn, Ehrenfeld, William K.

• Place

  Udaipur, Rajasthan state, Mewar, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Landscapes, Art, Soldiers, Animals, Hunting, Sisodia dynasty (861 - 1947), Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Horses, Rifle, Bears

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings