id:			170828
accession number:	2013.319
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.319
updated:		2022-01-04 17:57:23.479000

A floral fantasy of animals and birds (Waq-waq), early 1600s. India, Mughal. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; page: 37.6 x 26.6 cm (14 13/16 x 10 1/2 in.). 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 2013.319

title:				A floral fantasy of animals and birds (Waq-waq)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			early 1600s
creation date earliest:		1600
creation date latest:		1625
current location:		
creditline:			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
copyright:			

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culture:	India, Mughal
technique:	opaque watercolor and gold on paper
department:	Indian and Southeast Asian Art
collection:	Indian Art
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Page: 37.6 x 26.6 cm (14 13/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Art and Stories from Mughal India
	opening date:   2016-07-31T04:00:00
	<i>Art and Stories from Mughal India</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>A Flower From Every Meadow</em>. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY; Center for Asian Art and Culture, San Francisco, CA; Albright-Know Gallery of Art, Buffalo, NY (1973)

* <em>Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245)</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 31, 2013-June 30, 2014).

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PROVENANCE

	Motichand Khajanchi, Bikaner, India
	date: ?-December 1967
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
	date: December 1967-2013
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 2013-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 
The dragon threatens to singe the boar’s beard.

digital description: 


wall description: 
Derived ultimately from a conflation of medieval Persian and Qur'anic sources, including descriptions of the mythical island of Waq-waq inhabited by half-plant/half-animal creatures, this extraordinary painting depicts a plant that brings forth animal life in multiple forms. Playfully rendered with animals both real and mythic and birds that seem to effervesce away as they break free of the stems, this brilliant rendition of a life-giving plant maintains its compositional integrity, even as it sprawls across the page. This painting was made to beguile courtly connoisseurs who would gather to admire the wondrous images in an imperial album.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	<em>India 1966: a pictorial diary depicting Indian birds and animals [</em>= India 1966: agenda illustre sur les oiseaux et animaux l'Inde = India 1966: ein Bildkalender indischer Vögel und Tiere]. New Delhi: Government of India, 1966.
	page number: 	Reproduced: back cover
	url:		

	Welch, Stuart Cary, and Mark Zebrowski.<em> A Flower from Every Meadow: Indian Paintings from American Collections</em>. New York: Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1973.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 60, frontispiece
	url:		

	<em>Archives of Asian Art</em> 64, no. 2 (2014): p. 227.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 227, fig. 13.
	url:		

	Mace, Sonya Rhie, Mohsen Ashtiany, Catherine Glynn, Pedro Moura Carvalho, Marcus Fraser, and Ruby Lal. <em>Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. London: D Giles Limited, 2016.
	page number: 	cat. 28, p. 221
	url:		

	Okada, Amina. <em>Les Animaux Magiques dans la Peinture Indienne.</em> [Paris] : Circonflexe, 2017.
	page number: 	Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 7, 10
	url:		

	Lal, Ruby. <em>Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan</em>. New York, NY : W.W. Norton &amp; Company, 2018.
	page number: 	Reproduced: color plate after p. 142
	url:		

	Singh, Kavita, editor. <em>Scent Upon a Southern Breeze: The Synaesthetic Arts of the Deccan</em>. Mumbai, India: Marg Foundation, 2018.
	page number: 	Reproduced: fig. 10, p. 101, and back cover
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.319/2013.319_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.319/2013.319_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.319/2013.319_full.tif