MAHARAJA GULAB SINGH OF KASHMIR VISITING HIS QUEEN

SIKH, CIRCA 1850

Details

MAHARAJA GULAB SINGH OF KASHMIR VISITING HIS QUEEN
SIKH, CIRCA 1850
Gouache heightened with gold on paper, Maharaja Gulab Singh sits upon a brown horse before a walled pavilion from the window of which his Queen looks out spinkling flower petals, an attendant follows the Maharaja shading him with a large colourful umbrella, within minor blue floral borders on red margins, mounted
Miniature 9 3/8 x 6¾in. (23.8 x 17.5cm.); folio 12¼ x 18 7/8in. (31.1 x 22.4cm.)

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Lot Essay

Maharaja Gulab Singh of Kashmir (r. 1846-57) famously co-operated with the British during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. The British compensated Gulab Singh for his loyalty by appointing him as ruler of Jammu and Kashmir in 1846, independent from the Punjab. This miniature depicts Gulab Singh in his full royal regalia set inside a sumptuous palace being honoured by his wife.
A very similar miniature in the British Library Collection depicts Maharaja Gulab Singh in an almost identical pose on horseback accompanied by an attendant holding a parasol, (inv. Add.Or.707; W. G. Archer, Paintings of the Sikhs, London, 1966, pl. 34). The British Library miniature has an identifying inscription in both Urdu and English.

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