Darbar Mirza Maharai Lakhpatiji

Object Details

• School/Tradition

  Nagaur school

• Description

  The setting is a huge, open marble terrace, set bedside a lush arbor-filled garden. A large summer white carpet is patterned with bold flowers in a trellis shape with metal derived lozenge-shaped images interspersed. The Kutch retinue of nobles sits on this carpet on the left side, while the Nagaur visitors sit on the right side. The chief Mahant of Kutch, dressed in salmon robes, joins the left side assembly. A multi-floral burgundy-based smaller carpet has been placed on top of this white carpet, and a smaller still yellow cotton dhurrie sits on top of the burgundy carpet. It is upon this that the two royals are seated against burgundy bolsters. A hexagonal shaminana, boldly designed with gold floral designs on red velvet, shelters them from the sun.

• Inscriptions

  Verso in mixed Gujarati and Devanagari: Bakhat Singhji, Rao Shri Lakhpatji, Rao Shri

• Provenance

  From at least 1977

  Fuest, Heidelberg [1]

  From at least 1983

  Dr. and Mr. O.C. Kirsch, Heidelberg [2]

  2004

  Sale, London, Francesca Galloway, Indian Miniatures and Works of Art, autumn 2004, lot 7: “Meeting between Lakhpatji & Bakhat Singh” [3]

  From 2004 to 2018

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, purchased at auction, “Indian Miniatures and Works of Art,” Francesca Galloway, London, lot no. 7, “Meeting between Lakhpatji & Bakhat Singh” in July 2004 [4]

  From 2018

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [5]

  Notes:

  [1] According to B.N. Goswamy, he saw the painting in a Heidelberg gallery in 1977. The gallery was called Fuest, and was owned by Mr. Fuest. Later Mr. Fuest closed the gallery and moved to either Australia or New Zealand.

  [2] According to Goswamy, B.N. and A. Dallapiccola, A Place Apart: Painting in Kutch 1720-1820, (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp. 75, plate VI.

  [3] See auction catalogue from the sale in London. Francesca Galloway, Indian Miniatures and Works of Art, autumn 2004, lot 7: “Meeting between Lakhpatji & Bakhat Singh.”

  [4] See note 3.

  [5] See Acquisition Consideration Form, object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Fuest

  Dr. and Mrs. O. C. Kirsch

  Francesca Galloway

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim

• Origin

  Nagaur, Rajasthan state, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the Freer and Sackler Galleries

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1750s

• Name

  Fuest, Kirsch, O. C., Benkaim, Catherine Glynn, Galloway, Francesca

• Place

  Rajasthan state, Nagaur, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Fans, Art, Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Men, Portraits, Ruler, Courtier

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings