Balwant Singh with a Goose
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.With an extreme economy of means, including fine brush drawing and minimal washes of color, the Guler master painter Nainsukh conjured the merest suggestion of architectural space to create this dramatic setting for the enigmatic events enacted within. The artist’s lifelong patron, Raja Balwant Singh of Guler, is shown in a sensitive profile portrait, standing formally and holding a sheathed long sword. Although the presence of a lone goose in the courtyard defies explanation, we may speculate that this is a personal tribute by the artist to his late patron, with the goose perhaps intended to invoke the raja’s departed spirit.
Artwork Details
- Title: Balwant Singh with a Goose
- Artist: Attributed to Nainsukh (active ca. 1735–78)
- Date: ca. 1763
- Culture: India, Himachal Pradesh, Guler
- Medium: Brush drawing with light pigment on uncolored paper
- Dimensions: Image: 11 × 15 1/2 in. (28 × 39.4 cm)
Framed: 14 7/8 × 19 3/8 × 3/4 in. (37.8 × 49.2 × 1.9 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: The Howard Hodgkin Collection, on loan from the Howard Hodgkin Indian Collection Trust
- Object Number: L.2022.30.13
- Rights and Reproduction: Photo © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art