The great monkey warrior Hanuman delivers a message from the king Sugriva to Rama and Lakshmana, who have been exiled to the forest and fittingly wear leaf skirts and hats. After much discussion among the three, they decide to form a friendship. The artist emphasizes this union by placing the three heroes on a rocky outcrop with tendrils of leaves growing together above and curved tree trunks enclosing the group.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Hanuman before Rama and Lakshmana: Folio from the dispersed “Mankot" Ramayana series
Date:ca. 1710–25
Culture:India, Punjab Hills, kingdom of Mankot
Medium:Ink and opaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions:8 x 12 1/8 in. (20.3 x 30.8 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Seymour Fund, 1976
Accession Number:1976.16
[ Eva and Konrad Seitz , Bonn, Germany, until 1976, sold to MMA]
San Diego Museum of Art. "5000 Years of Art," October 11, 1981–December 6, 1981.
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "5000 Years of Art," January 10, 1982–February 7, 1982.
Mobile. Fine Arts Museum of the South. "5000 Years of Art," March 30, 1982–May 9, 1992.
Midland Art Center. "5000 Years of Art," June 13, 1982–August 25, 1982.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "5000 Years of Art," September 19, 1982–November 14, 1982.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections for the Opening of The Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries," 1994.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Indian Paintings," 1994–95.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painting in the Punjab Hills," 1999–2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings in the Punjab Hills," 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Ramayana," July 6–October 9, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painting in the Punjab Hills," November 20, 2007–March 16, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Epic India: Scenes from the Ramayana," March 30–September 19, 2010.
San Francisco. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. "The Rama Epic: Hero, Heroine, Ally, Foe," October 21, 2016–January 15, 2017.
New York,. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sita and Rama: The Ramayana in Indian Painting," August 3, 2019–March 7, 2021.
McGill, Forrest, Pika Ghosh, Robert P. Goldman, Sally J. Sutherland Goldman, and Philip Lutgendorf. The Rama Epic: Hero, Heroine, Ally, Foe. Exh. cat. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2016, pp. 174–75, cat. no. 86.
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