Saraswati, folio from a Goddess series
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1680-1700
name: label: Artist
content: Attributed to Wajid (active late 17th century)
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Sawar school
label: Label
content: This otherworldly painting centers upon a pale goddess dressed in white who is seated on a pink-tipped white lotus that hovers in an indeterminate space. Two massive red poppy plants in full bloom and bud, ultimately based on European botanical drawings that were adopted by Mughal artists and from there by Mewar artists and from there by a painter in Sawar, flank the goddess. The background is a solid field of rich chocolate brown.
label: Provenance
content: To 1967
label: Provenance
content: Nowlakah, Calcutta [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1967 to 2001
label: Provenance
content: Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), purchased from Nowlakah, Calcutta in December 1967 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 2001 to 2018
label: Provenance
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim in 2001
label: Provenance
content: From 2018
label: Provenance
content: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim
label: Provenance
content: [1] Ralph Benkaim purchased the painting from Nowlakah, Calcutta in December 1967, several years before Indian paintings were classified as antiquities by the Indian government, according to his personal records, as relayed by Catherine Glynn Benkaim.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ralph and Catherine Benkaim
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim (born 1946)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Nowlakah
place: label: Origin
content: Sawar, Rajasthan state, India
topic: label: Topic
content: India
label: Topic
content: South Asian and Himalayan Art
label: Topic
content: Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
label: Topic
content: Saraswati
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: S2018.1.40
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): 15.9 × 24.4 cm (6 1/4 × 9 5/8 in)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 18.7 × 26.7 cm (7 3/8 × 10 1/2 in)