Crispin Branfoot Portraiture in South Asia Since the Mughals Art Representation and History

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Portrait of Raja Ram Singh of Amber (r. 1667-1688) with a Deccan Sword (recto); Calligraphy (verso)

Portrait of Raja Ram Singh of Amber (r. 1667-1688) with a Deccan Sword (recto); Calligraphy (verso)

c. 1680-1685

Part of a set. See all gear up records

Opaque watercolor on paper

Page: 30.four x 18.5 cm (eleven 15/16 x seven 5/16 in.)

Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.330

Location

Description

The sensitive, naturalistic rendering of weariness and forbearance in the face up belies the trappings of favor bestowed on Ram Singh by the Mughal emperors Shah Jahan and Alamgir, whom he served every bit courtier and full general between 1643 and 1688. He was a Hindu ruler from the kingdom of Amber in Rajasthan, nether the control of the Mughal empire. Spending near of his life at the imperial court or leading military expeditions for the Mughals, this portrait was included in a Mughal album and inscribed with an Urdu poetry indicating his value to the empire: "wherever he has led an trek, victory is his." He wears a sumptuous coat of award with a fur collar, woven with gold threads and floral sprigs and costly rubies, emeralds, and pearls. The straight sword with enameled hilt may be the one gifted to him past the emperor upon his succession to the throne equally king of Bister in 1667. His long history of service at the imperial court, however, was checkered with troubles, including his allegiances with failed successors of Shah Jahan and the escape of the rebel Shivaji under his watch.

Inscriptions

Inscription

verso: Deccani Urdu (Karnati) lyrics in nasta'liq script: "Bhairava" has a camphor-like fair complexion with [young] moon on the forehead and iii eyes and with the crown of the disordered locks over which the Ganges sparkles. In the i hand he has a man skull, and in the other a trident. His vehicle is a bull, and his torso is white (besmeared with ashes). He has the skin of an elephant and of a lion on his dorsum and carries ornaments provided by snakes and sits under the shade of the heavenly wish-fulfilling tree [kalpavriksha]. A white beautiful adult female is playing upon a drum [mridanga] at a place beyond Kailash mountains. These, says Ibrahim, are the features of the most charming and excellent Raga Bhairava. (subsequently Kitab-i Nauras Ahmad 1956, 98–99, 130)

Provenance

?-September 1967

(Maggs Brothers, London, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, Bulletin No. 12, September 1967, no. xi, sold to Ralph Benkaim)

September 1967-2013

Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art

2013-

The Cleveland Museum of Fine art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Mace, Sonya Rhie, Mohsen Ashtiany, Catherine Glynn, Pedro Moura Carvalho, Marcus Fraser, and Ruby Lal. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: the Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D Giles Express, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 66, p. 246

Branfoot, Crispin, ed. Portraiture in Southward Asia Since the Mughals: Fine art, Representation and History. London; New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2018. Reproduced: pl. xi

Exhibition history

Art of the Indian Subcontinent from Los Angeles Collections. University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (March 4-31, 1968).

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 2, 2014-January v, 2015).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Portrait of Raja Ram Singh of Amber (r. 1667-1688) with a Deccan Sword (recto); Calligraphy (verso)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.330|yr=c. 1680-1685|access-engagement=26 April 2022|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Fine art}}

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