Vilaval Ragini, from a Ragamala
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1690-95
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Basohli school
label: Label
content: Raga (Sanskrit, color or passion) is the term for a classical music mode, a set framework for improvisation. Having originated in the first millennium, ragas were systematized and classified during the thirteenth through sixteenth century, they were classified into ragamalas, meaning garlands of musical modes. A common system recognized six raga husbands, each "married" to five ragini wives for a total of thirty-six "families." Families of musical modes sometimes included sons or ragaputras as well. By the fifteenth century, ragas had become associated with specific moods, times, seasons, affective properties, deities, lovers, and heroes. Around 1590-1620, illustrated ragamala series became a favorite subject for Rajput patrons, as well as for some Mughals, such as Abd-ur Rahim, patron of the Freer Ramayana and the Laud Ragamala. Specific iconographies were developed for depicting each mode. These formulae lent themselves to variations, which were sometimes dependent on region.
label: Label
content: Like musical compositions, illustrated ragas evoke mood and engender feeling. However, the connection seems to be indirect. Although some connoisseurs of music may have internally "heard" a composition when viewing its image, ragamalas were probably more broadly valued for their poetic and pictorial pleasures. The commission of a ragamala series also would have been understood as a sign of a patron's cultivated sensibility.
label: Provenance
content: To 1973
label: Provenance
content: Marjory Buckle, Hong Kong [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1973 to 2001
label: Provenance
content: Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), Beverly Hills, California, purchased from Marjory or Marjorie Buckle in New York in June 1973 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 2001 to 2018
label: Provenance
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, ownership was transferred after the death of her husband, Ralph Benkaim in 2001 [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 2018
label: Provenance
content: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] It is very likely that this widely-exhibited and well-published painting was in a Hong Kong collection prior to September 1972.
label: Provenance
content: [2] In 1973 this and other Indian paintings were in the collection of Marjory Buckle, an American who lived in Hong Kong. When she decided to disperse her collection, she contacted Willie Wolff, a New York City dealer who specialized in Asian sculpture, not painting. According to correspondence between Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Debra Diamond in June 2016: when Ralph Benkaim was in New York City in 1973, Willie Wolff brought the paintings to his attention. Ms. Benkaim does not know the exact date of Mr. Benkaim’s New York City visit because the trip took place prior to their marriage. Mr. Benkaim’s handwritten records indicate that he signed the check in June 1973. There is no paperwork indicating if the check was directly made out to Marjory Buckle and/or if the paintings were shipped directly from Hong Kong to Los Angeles.
label: Provenance
content: Everything argues for a somewhat protracted process: it is unlikely that a westerner in the 1970s (other than a handful of well-known professional dealers) could have amassed a collection of Indian paintings in a few months (that is, acquiring after September 1972, when Indian paintings were first listed as antiquities, and then selling by June 1973). Wolff did not take the Buckle paintings on consignment because he did not deal in paintings, and Wolff only mentioned the paintings to Ralph Benkaim when they met in New York City. According to information from Catherine Glynn Benkaim to Debra Diamond in June 2016.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See Acquisition Justification Form, object file, Collections Management Office.
label: Provenance
content: [4] See note 3.
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Marjory Buckle
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: Basohli, Jammu and Kashmir, India
topic: label: Topic
content: child
label: Topic
content: woman
label: Topic
content: ragamala
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: S2018.1.2
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Opaque watercolor on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 20.3 × 19.7 cm (8 × 7 3/4 in)