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Maharana Jagat Singh II hunting bear

National Museum of Asian Art

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
Credit Line
Purchase and partial gift made in 2012 from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
ca. 1730-1745
Period
Sisodia dynasty, Reign of Jagat Singh II
Accession Number
F2012.4.7
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Painting
Medium
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W (image-inside border): 26.6 × 44.7 cm (10 1/2 × 17 5/8 in)
H x W x D (exhibition frame): 48.3 × 63.5 × 4.4 cm (19 × 25 × 1 3/4 in)
Origin
Udaipur, Rajasthan state, Mewar, India
Related Online Resources
Google Arts & Culture
See more items in
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Topic
landscape
bear
hunting
horse
Sisodia dynasty (861 - 1947)
India
South Asian and Himalayan Art
soldier
rifle
Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
Record ID
fsg_F2012.4.7
Metadata Usage (text)
Usage conditions apply
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3b2dab5b5-1637-4d63-ab44-77ee21ee6a2b
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
View manifest View in Mirador Viewer

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