Kaccheli Ragini, from a Ragamala

Object Details

• School/Tradition

  Kulu or Bahu school

• Description

  With its wide-eyed heroine seated beneath undulating creepers, head-butting rams, and brooding clouds, the painting has a wild energy. Its farouche quality is heightened by its enigmatic subject: a woman sitting outside a shrine with her hand on the rump of a ram butting another ram.

• Inscriptions

  Inscribed in white Takri on upper border: kachhelī raganī dīpake dī bharaj; black Takri following.

  Verso center top: black Takri-kachhelī raganī dīpake dī bharaj / pehla patra (first folio); center of page in dark black ink is nagari no. 1; center bottom in pencil in English: 160 x 156 mm, Kulu 1700, 18th century; A 2/67 a500

• Provenance

  To 1967

  Maggs Bros., London, England. [1]

  From 1967 to 2001

  Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), Beverly Hills, California, purchased from Maggs Bros., London, England in April 1967. [2]

  From 2001 to 2018

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim in 2001. [3]

  From 2018

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim. [4]

  Notes:

  [1] Information obtained from Catherine Glynn Benkaim. See Acquisition Consideration Form, object file, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

  [4] See note 1.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Maggs Bros. Ltd. (founded 1853)

  Ralph and Catherine Benkaim

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim

• Origin

  Bahu or Jammu, Himachal Pradesh state, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s

• Name

  Maggs Bros. Ltd., Benkaim, Ralph and Catherine, Benkaim, Catherine Glynn

• Place

  Bahu, Himachal Pradesh state, Jammu, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Animals, Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Sheep, Ragamala

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings