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Maharaja Kirpal Pal of Basohli smoking

ca. 1690
Not on view
As Basohli’s founder, Bhupat Pal was a fierce champion for his kingdom, and clearly his reputation lived on well after his death, since this portrait was painted some fifty years after his assassination in Delhi, in 1635. It was likely commissioned by his son and successor, Kirpal Pal (r. ca. 1678–93) who in this portrait is shown sitting cross-legged on a striped dhurrie rug while enjoying his own hookah. One of the finest examples of seventeenth-century Pahari portraiture, it captures the power of this style at its peak.
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Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Maharaja Kirpal Pal of Basohli smoking
  • Date: ca. 1690
  • Culture: India, Mankot, Punjab Hills
  • Medium: Opaque watercolor, gold and silver on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 8 7/8 × 13 in. (22.5 × 33 cm)
    Framed: 13 1/4 × 17 1/4 × 3/4 in. (33.7 × 43.8 × 1.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, by exchange, 2022
  • Object Number: 2022.242
  • Rights and Reproduction: Image © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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