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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2009.202.79
People
Attributed to Basawan, Indian (16th century)
Title
Ascetics Making Bhang
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Bhang Making
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1585
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India
Period
Mughal period
Culture
Mughal
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/217552

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black and brown ink on off-white paper
Dimensions
16.7 x 8.8 cm (6 9/16 x 3 7/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Stuart Cary Welch (by 1983 - 2008,) by descent; to his estate (2008-2009,) gift; to Harvard Art Museum.

Notes:
Object was part of long-term loan to Museum in 1983.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch
Accession Year
2009
Object Number
2009.202.79
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This small drawing depicts four youths in a wooded setting. Three are handling pots and a basket while a fourth peers down from behind a tree. The figures are nude, covered if at all, only by wavy hair. A dog, with crossed forelegs observes from the right; a walking stick with curving handle lies in the middle ground. These elements--the nudity, the walking stick, and the dog--are attributes of India's religious ascetics and common to their artistic portrayal.

Publication History

  • Howard Hodgkin and Terence McInerney, Indian Drawing : An Exhibition Chosen by Howard Hodgkin, exh. cat., Arts Council of Great Britain, London (London, England, 1983), Figure 50
  • Stuart Cary Welch and Kim Masteller, From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, 2004), p. X (detail); p. 85, no. 19

Exhibition History

  • Anvari's Divan: A Pocket Book for Akbar, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/07/1984 - 03/28/1984
  • Indian and Persian Drawings, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/25/1987 - 06/21/1987
  • Linear Graces ... and Disgraces: Part I, Drawings from the Courts of Persia, Turkey, and India, 15th-19th Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/15/1994 - 12/11/1994
  • From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from SCWelch, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 03/19/2005 - 06/02/2005
  • 32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/26/2017 - 11/08/2017
  • A Colloquium in the Visual Arts , Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 01/02/2022

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu