Lakshmi massaging the foot of Vishnu
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1765-1770
name: label: Artist
content: Composition attributed to Nainsukh (active ca. 1710-1778)
label: Artist
content: Painting attributed to Manju (active late 18th century)
notes: label: Inscriptions
content: Verso: In devanagari gold letters on blue paper, the Sanskrit text is from the Narayana Upanishad of Atharveda. Inscribed in black ink in a different hand: “Majnu te nainsukh ki banai hoi”- (the painting) is (the joint) work of Majnu and Nainsukh/or- Painted by Majnu and Nainsukh/or Done by Majnu and Nainsukh.
label: Provenance
content: ?-?
label: Provenance
content: Kapoor Galleries, Inc., New York, New York [1]
label: Provenance
content: ?-2002
label: Provenance
content: Gloria Katz and Willard M. Huyck Jr., Los Angeles, California [2]
label: Provenance
content: 2002
label: Provenance
content: Sale, New York, Sotheby’s, Important Indian Paintings from the Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection, March 22, 2002, lot 49: “Lakshmi massaging the foot of Vishnu” [3]
label: Provenance
content: 2002-2018
label: Provenance
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim, purchased at Sotheby’s auction [4]
label: Provenance
content: From 2018
label: Provenance
content: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [5]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See notes from Catherine Glynn Benkaim, April 27, 2015, copy in the object file. See also the catalogue referenced in note 2.
label: Provenance
content: Kapoor Galleries, Inc., is a dealer in New York, NY, founded in 1975 by Ramesh Kapoor and Urmil Kapoor and later joined by Ramesh's son, Suneet Kapoor. The gallery specializes in the sale of art from Indian and the Himalayas, specifically bronzes, sculptures, miniatures, and thangkas. The gallery has exhibited at art fairs, including Asia Week in New York and their clients have included private collectors and institutions.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Sotheby’s auction catalogue of the New York sale, “Important Indian Paintings from the Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection” from March 22, 2002.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 2.
label: Provenance
content: [4] See note 2. Catherine Glynn Benkaim is a collector and scholar in the field of Indian painting. Dr. Benkaim met her husband, Ralph Benkaim, in the 1970s when she was the curator of Indian painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The couple were married 1979 and together they amassed a collection of Indian paintings, which included examples from most courts. 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.
label: Provenance
content: [5] See “Appendix B Bill of Sale” and “Appendix C Donor Substantiation Letter,” dated January 2, 2018, copy in object file. From 2018-2023, the object the object was part of the National Museum of Asian Art’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection and on March 21, 2023, the work was internally transferred to the National Museum of Asian Art Collection.
label: Provenance
content: Research updated April 2, 2025.
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Vishnu: Hindu's Blue-skinned Saviour (February to October, 2011)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Kapoor Galleries, Inc. (established 1975)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Willard M. Huyck Jr. (born 1945)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim (born 1946)
place: label: Origin
content: probably Basohli, Jammu and Kashmir, India
topic: label: Topic
content: Vishnu
label: Topic
content: Lakshmi
label: Topic
content: India
label: Topic
content: South Asian and Himalayan Art
label: Topic
content: Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
setName: label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: S2018.1.61
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (painting): 25.1 × 17.5 cm (9 7/8 × 6 7/8 in)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 27.3 × 18.7 cm (10 3/4 × 7 3/8 in)