Raja Shamsher Sen of Mandi

CultureIndian, Mandi, Pahari Hills, India

Dateca. 1775

MediumOpaque pigments with gold on paper

DimensionsImage: 8 1/4 × 7 inches (20.96 × 17.78 cm)
Sheet: 10 1/4 × 8 1/4 inches (26.04 × 20.96 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: the Asian Art Acquisition Fund in memory of Laurence Sickman

Object number2026.25.1

On View

Not on view

Terms

DescriptionThe rectalinear painting on paper is oriented horizontally. Set within a wide painted red border, the ruler Raja Shamsher Sen of Mandi sits on a striped dhurrie floorspread against a large bolster cushion smoking a huqqa. He wears a red jama with a garland of white flowers and a red turban decorated with jewelry and pendant strands of white jasmine and yellow marigold flowers. He is shown in profile, facing to the right. He has a cropped grey beard and has white ash and red marks painted on his forehead. A man in a white jama and turban, with a white beard carrying a large staff and wearing a sword stands before him. An attendant wearing a white jama and turban holding a white cloth and morchal fan stands behind him.

An inscription writing in Takri script in black ink in top left border, translates as srī daṁyāṇ , meaning "diwan" or minister, the state title that Shamsher Sen adopted.

Provenance

Provenance

S.N. Kalia, April 1962;

W.G. Archer (1907-79), London, before 1967;

By descent in the Archer family, London: Christie's, London, lot 74, September 23, 2005;

Private collection, New York; 2005-2026;

Purchased by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art through Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd., 2026.

Published References

Archer, W.G., Visions of Courtly India: The Archer Collection of Pahari Miniatures, London and New York, 1976, pp. 110-1, no. 59

Published References

Forge and Lynch. Luminaries, Myth and Fantasy in Indian and Persian Painting. Asia Week New York, March, 2026, cat. 18

Published References

Archer, W.G., Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, 1973, Mandi, p. 272, no. 36

Published References

Archer, W.G., Pahari Paintings: a Concise History, London, 1975, pl. 18

Published References

Archer, M., Indian Miniatures and Folk Paintings, London, 1967, fig. 31

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