The sage-physician Dhanvantari, folio from the “Sixth” Bhagavata Purana series, also known as the “small” Guler-Basohli series

Object Details

• Artist

  Attributed to Manaku (active ca.1700-1760)

• School/Tradition

  Guler school

• Description

  Dressed in the fashion of a nobleman at the court of Shah Jahan, the divine sage Dhanvantari wears a white jama and a gold-bordered patka (sash) adorned with a large flower motif. His beard is white, his face wrinkled with age, and he wears a Vaishnava tilak mark on his forehead. He sits on a yellow carpet decorated with gray-green leaves and maroon flowers. A narrow strip of cloud-streaked sky borders the brilliant orange ground. He holds two objects that may be associated with medicine.

• Inscriptions

  Verso: Three lines of Devanagari script in black and red ink: Herewith ends the first chapter Bhagavat Mahapurana. Dhanvantari (twelfth avatar) 16

• Provenance

  To 1967

  Essajees, Mumbai, India. [1]

  From 1967 to 2001

  Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), Beverly Hills, California, purchased from the Essajees, Mumbai, India in December 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 Glyn Benkaim. [4]

  Notes:

  [1] Ralph Benkaim purchased the painting in December 1967 from the Essajees of Mumbai, several years before Indian paintings were classified as antiquities by the Indian government.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See Acquisition Justification Form, object file, Collections Management Office.

  [4] See note 3.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Essajee's (founded 1890)

  Ralph (1914-2001) and Catherine Benkaim

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim

• Origin

  Guler, Himachal Pradesh 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

  1730s, 1740s

• Name

  Benkaim, Ralph and Catherine, Benkaim, Catherine Glynn, Essajee's

• Place

  Guler, Himachal Pradesh state, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Physicians, Men, Portraits

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings