AMBER, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1650

INSCRIPTIONS:
In the lower border and in the lower margin: shabi-ye kunwar ram singhe 'likeness of Kunwar Ram Singh'

Although almost every aspect of this painting – from the subject’s delicately-realised facial features to the elegantly stencilled margins – would be at home in an album prepared in an imperial Mughal workshop, it is in fact taken from an album produced under Rajput patronage. While seventeenth century Rajput court painting remained largely rooted in the world of Ragamalas and Ramayanas, the so-called “Amber album” broke the mould: its paintings were largely executed on a vertical format, and intended to be bound with a spine. The content of the paintings was also quintessentially ‘Mughal’, featuring portraits of courtiers and holy men, as well as studies of birds. Stylistic comparison of the paintings, as well as the construction of the page, bears particularly close resemblance to the Shah Jahan Albums, with which this album is likely to have been contemporary.

Based on the content of the paintings, which predominantly depict members of the Kachhwaha family, Catherine Glynn attributes the album to the Amber workshop. The earliest figure depicted is Raja Man Singh (r.1589-1614), a generous and prolific patron who likely initiated the project. Having spent much of his life at the Mughal court, he would have been exposed to the artistic developments which took place during the reign of Akbar, who often referred to Man Singh as farzand (son), and Jahangir, who married Man Singh’s sister Mankunwar in 1584. Just as his patronage of buildings like the Amber Fort integrated Mughal architectural motifs, this album demonstrates an intention to actively engage with the artistic vocabulary which had become established at court. Indeed, the floral motifs in the margins may be compared with those marble friezes and painted murals in the Amber fort today. Though Man Singh was not the only Rajput prince to emulate Mughal style, Glynn remarks that ‘at no other Rajput court […] does one find the level of sophistication that is evident in the better paintings in the Amber album’ (Catherine Glynn, "A Rajasthani Princely Album: Rajput Patronage of Mughal-Style Painting", Artibus Asiae, Vol.60, No.2, p.230)

This portrait takes as its subject Ram Singh (r.1667-88), here depicted while still a prince (Kunwar). The title was bestowed on him by Aurangzeb in 1642, and ceased to apply when he was elevated to Raja on the death of Jai Singh in 1667. This suggests that the painting was certainly completed in the middle decades of the 17^th century. He appears in a further two portraits in the Amber album, one depicting him at worship, and the other with him seated on a terrace. He is the last ruler of Amber to be depicted in the album suggesting that it was during his reign that the project was finally brought to completion. The close relationship between Amber and the Mughals is demonstrated by the fact that Ram Singh’s likeness also appears in the Late Shah Jahan Album, believed to date from around 1650 (Elaine Wright, Muraqqa’: Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Alexandria, 2008, fig.52, p.111).

Based on the physical evidence of the pages and the lack of residue along the edges, it is unlikely that they were ever bound together. In the late 17^th century, around 13 of them made their way to the Mewari royal collection: that this was among that number is suggested by the inventory number still legible on the reverse. Today they are widely dispersed between private collections and institutions such as the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (EA 1996.46), the Elvehjam Museum of Art, Wisconsin (1974.51), the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (1983.165), and the David Collection, Copenhagen (49/1992).