A female figure standing in a landscape holding a four-stringed “khuuchir” and a lotus

The Cleveland Museum of Art · 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

Museum

A female figure standing in a landscape holding a four-stringed “khuuchir” and a lotus

c. 1590

Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper
Dimensions: Page: 31.6 x 20.7 cm (12 7/16 x 8 1/8 in.)
Classification: Painting
Style: Indian Art - Mughal
Origin: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
Institution: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit: 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

Market Intelligence

Observed sale facts, comparable evidence, artist index history and modeled research remain separate.

Public evidence

Last known price—0 matched observed sales

Observed median—

Observed sales0

Artist index—

No rights-cleared normalized observed sale is attached to this artwork. No synthetic price history is shown.

Artist index unavailableNo completed public artist-index build exists.Artist-level context is not an artwork valuation.

Comparable Sales

Same-artist public sales ranked by medium, creation year, dimensions and sale recency.

Evidence ranked

No public-rights comparable sales meet the current evidence criteria. RELICT does not fill the table with research-only or licensed-only facts.

Provenance

Public

April 24, 1996

(Sotheby’s, London, England Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 24 April 1996 sale, lot 40)

–2013

Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection

2013–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Source provenance text

(Sotheby’s, London, England Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 24 April 1996 sale, lot 40) Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Exhibitions

Public

Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior

Nature Supernatural

Source exhibition text

Nature Supernatural. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 2023-March 3, 2024). Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 14-June 8, 2025).

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

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Unknown artist · 1585

A feast for Babur hosted by his half-brother Jahangir Mirza in Ghazni in May 1505, from a Babur-nama (Memoirs of Babur)

Basavana (Indian, active c. 1560–1600) · 1584

The Lover Leaves Wistfully in the Morning after a Passionate Tryst: Lalit Ragini, from a Ragamala

Unknown artist · 1590

Sourced Overview Evidence

Standing over flowering sprigs, holding a lotus like a scepter, the figure seems to magically impart fertility to a desert. In pan-Indian religious iconography (system of visual symbols that identify a figure), the lotus is held by the goddess of good fortune, prosperity, and abundance, who is frequently associated with ideal kingship. The stringed instrument recalls the Indian goddess of learning and music, but here it is of a Mongolian type, as is the feather in her crown. Her garments are reminiscent of those worn by biblical and classical figures in European engravings. This painting combines Indian, European, and Mongolian references.

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Evidence state

0 observed sales · 0 comparable sales · 3 structured provenance events · 2 structured exhibitions.

Place Of OriginShort DescriptionProvenance TextExhibition HistoryCredit Line