A forlorn lover, fragment from a Rasamanjari
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1710-ca. 1715
name: label: Artist
content: Attributed to the workshop of Golu, son of Devidasa
notes: label: Court
content: Nurpur school
label: Label
content: This lotus-eyed woman with henna-tipped fingers is one of the 384 types of female lover described in the Rasamanjari (Bouquet of Rasa), a poetic classification of lovers (nayakas and nayikas) and love situations. Composed c. 1500 by Maithili Brahmin Bhanadutta, probably in Ahmednagar, Deccan, its Sanskrit verses had a huge impact on Hindu court painting and the development of the Hindi literary tradition (ritikal).
label: Label
content: She appears to be an experienced nayika (heroine) waiting for her lover because she is fully adorned in jewelry, and sits topless by a bed. Bhanadutta describes such a nayika:
label: Label
content: She put on all her jewelry,
label: Label
content: Perfumed her thick head of hair,
label: Label
content: And at her bedside had them place areca nut and betel leaf.
label: Label
content: And the bedroom, when the woman
label: Label
content: entered, her body all aglow,
label: Label
content: was a darkened overcast day
label: Label
content: set ablaze by golden ketaki flowers.
label: Provenance
content: ?
label: Provenance
content: Ownership Information Unknown
label: Provenance
content: ?-1947
label: Provenance
content: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877 1947),
label: Provenance
content: method of acquisition unknown [1]
label: Provenance
content: 1947-1972
label: Provenance
content: Rama Coomaraswamy (1929 2006), Greenwich, Connecticut, ownership transferred after the death of his father, Ananda Coomaraswamy. [2]
label: Provenance
content: 1972-2001
label: Provenance
content: Ralph Benkaim (1914 2001), Beverly Hills, California, purchased from Rama Coomaraswamy in May 1972. [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 2001 to 2018
label: Provenance
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim in 2001. [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. Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and moved to England for his education in 1879. He attended university in London, graduating with degrees in geology and botany in 1900. He then returned to Ceylon and pursued a career in mineralogy, earning a doctorate in 1906. He was active from 1907 until his death in 1947 in Needham, Massachusetts. In 1910, however, his interests shifted to Indian and Sri Lankan culture, and he moved to America to serve as curator of Indian art and as a researcher of Indian and Middle Eastern art for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: Ralph (1914-2001) and Catherine Glynn Benkaim were collectors of Indian painting. Mr. Benkaim was an entertainment lawyer from Los Angeles who started collecting Indian painting in 1961 and Dr. Benkaim is a scholar in the field of Indian painting. Mr. and Ms. Benkaim met in the 1970s when Ms. Benkaim was the curator of Indian painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The
label: Provenance
content: couple were married 1979 and together they created a fine collection of Indian paintings, which included examples from all genres. The collected object 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: [4] See notes 1 and 2.
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 3, 2025
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Masters of Indian Painting (April 28, 2011 to January 8, 2012)
label: Exhibition History
content: A Flower from Every Meadow: Indian Paintings from American Collections (April 12, 1973 to November 11, 1973)
label: Exhibition History
content: Art of the Indian Subcontinent from Los Angeles Collections (March 4 to March 31, 1968)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Rama Coomaraswamy (1929-2006)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ralph and Catherine Benkaim
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim (born 1946)
place: label: Origin
content: Nurpur, Himachal Pradesh state, India
topic: label: Topic
content: woman
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: S2018.1.14
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 (overall): 16.9 × 12.1 cm (6 5/8 × 4 3/4 in)