Cleveland Museum of Art

A prince visiting a holy man in a rocky landscape

Date: c. 1590
Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper
Culture: India, Mughal court, 16th century
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 170797

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

A recurring theme in the art of India is the relationship between rulers and the religious practitioners who were believed to control supernatural forces that would aid in the success of rule and war. A prince has come to the abode of a Sufi mystic dervish, who sits with two acolytes in front of a rocky cave that may be his dwelling. The dervish appears to be blessing the prince and the weapons carried by his retinue to help assure success in an upcoming battle. In the foreground, a princely figure leading a horse meets surreptitiously with an eccentric figure holding a squat vessel, possibly filled with a narcotic substance such as bhang, used by many groups of mystics to aid in reaching trance states.

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Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
Provenance: (Heeramaneck Collection, New York, NY) | The Pan-Asian Collection, New York, NY | Robert Ellsworth [1929–2014], New York, NY | June 20, 1983: (Sotheby’s, London, Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 20 June 1983, lot 65, sold to Ralph and Catherine Benkaim) | 1983–2001: Ralph [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, by descent to his wife, Catherine Benkaim | 2001–2013: Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 2013–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH