Gauri Ragini, folio from a Ragamala

Object Details

• School/Tradition

  Marwar school

• Description

  Surrounded by four trees and six peacocks, a lady, wearing an orange jama, stands beside a lotus filled pond. She holds two flower staffs.

• Inscriptions

  Recto: (top in yellow panel), in devnagari : Raga Gau Ragini

  Verso: (top left) devanagari numerals 120; Underneath is another notation which cannot be deciphered, perhaps MO 221?

  (top right) devanagari ?

  (top right) devanagari ?

• Provenance

  To 1947

  Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) [1]

  From 1947 to 1974

  Rama Coomaraswamy (1929-2006), Greenwich, Connecticut, by gift or inheritance after his father, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy’s death in 1947 [2]

  From 1974 to 2001

  Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), Beverly Hills, California, purchased from Rama Coomaraswamy, Greenwich, Connecticut [3]

  From 2001 to 2018

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim in 2001

  From 2018

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

  Notes:

  [1] Rama Coomaraswamy was the son of Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, an important figure in the field of Indian and Sri Lankan art history. Coomaraswamy was largely responsible for providing the conceptual structures through which South Asian art became studied and valued in India and in the west. Because A.K. Coomaraswamy spent the second half of his life in the U.S., it is highly unlikely that any art from his personal collection would have a contested provenance.

  [2] According to information from Catherine Glynn Benkaim.

  [3] See note 2.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Ralph and Catherine Benkaim

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim

  Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947)

• Origin

  Marwar, Rajasthan 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

  1630s, 1620s

• Name

  Benkaim, Ralph and Catherine, Coomaraswamy, Ananda K., Benkaim, Catherine Glynn

• Place

  Rajasthan state, Marwar, India

• Topic

  Trees, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Peacock, Art, Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Ragamala, Lotus, Woman

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings