Ascetic

Abdur Rahman Chughtai (1899-1975), Lahore, Pakistan [1]

To about 1970
Jagdish Mittal, Hyderabad, India, to about 1970 [2]

From about 1970
Unknown European collector (#1), purchased from Jagdish Mittal about 1970 [3]

Unknown European collector (#2) [4]

To 2006
Terence McInerney Fine Arts Ltd., New York City, to 2006 [5]

From 2006
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Terence McInerney Fine Arts Ltd. in 2006

Notes:

[1] The painting was formerly in the collection of Abdur Rahman Chughtai (died 1975), one of Pakistan's leading twentieth century artists. Chughtai developed a modern style that drew upon Mughal and Pahari painting; he was also a collector of Mughal and Rajput works on paper. The painting's verso bears two signatures of Chughtai, as well as two obliterated stamps indicating that the painting was catalogued as part of the Chughtai private museum (which features the artist's twentieth-century paintings) in Lahore. Although there is no written documentation concerning this painting's provenance beyond the verso inscriptions, it is known to have been sold to a western collector, as were other pre-modern works from Chughtai's collection, sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

The drawing fragment, which has been in two European private collections successively over the last four decades, was earlier in the collection of Jagdish Mittal of Hyderabad, India. Mr. Mittal acquired the bulk of his painting collection in the 1950s and 1960s. The fragment is reported to have left India in the early 1970s (according to Curatorial Remark 1, Debra Diamond, September 5, 2006, in the object record).

[2] According to the seller, September 1, 2006, as noted in the object record (see Curatorial Remark 2). Also, see note 1.

[3] See note 2.

[4] See note 2.

[5] See note 2.