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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2011.95
Title
A Portrait of Raja Karan Singh of Bikaner Holding a Sword
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1655
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India, Rajasthan, Bikaner
Culture
Indian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/215593

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brush, black ink, gold, and opaque water- color on paper; Rajput Style, Bikaner School
Dimensions
28.1 x 17.3 cm (11 1/16 x 6 13/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Stuart Cary Welch, Jr. Collection, New Hampshire (by 1976-2011), sold; through [Sotheby’s, London, 5/31/2011, lot 16]; to Harvard Art Museums, 2011.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Richard Norton Memorial Fund
Accession Year
2011
Object Number
2011.95
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The drawing depicts Raja Karan Singh of Bikaner (r. 1631-1669) in profile. With both hands, he holds the hilt of a firangi, a type of Indian longsword. Raja Karan Singh wears a large red and green turban, pearl and gem-studded jewelry, and a waist sash (patka) decorated with flowers. Tucked into the waist sash is a punch-dagger (katar). The image has been pricked for transfer. Rajput style, Bikaner school.

Publication History

  • Vishakha N. Desai, Painting and Politics in Seventeenth-Century North India: Mewar, Bikaner, and the Mughal Court, Art Journal (Winter 1990), Vol. 49, No. 4, pp 370-378, pp. 373-374, fig. 6

Exhibition History

  • Portraiture in Iran and India, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/09/1983 - 02/01/1984
  • Life at Court: Art for India's Rulers, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 11/20/1985 - 02/09/1986; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 03/14/1986 - 05/09/1986
  • Indian and Persian Drawings, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/25/1987 - 06/21/1987
  • Linear Graces ... and Disgraces: Part II, Drawings from the Courts of Persia, Turkey, and India, 15th-19th Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/26/1994 - 03/05/1995

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu