Maharaja Raj Singh of Junia
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.Distinguished by its grand scale and the quality of the brushwork, this profile portrait sensitively reveals the subject’s personality using lightly colored highlights, from the delicate pink rose and jewelry to Raj Singh’s rouged lips. The maharaja is shown framed in a cusped arch audience window (jharoka). A carpet with a trellis pattern drapes over the balcony railing, providing a suitably stately setting. He wears the distinctive tall turban of the Rathor clan, to which the royal house of Junia belonged, as well as a range of large jewels set in a headband, a turban ornament (sarpech), earrings, a pendant, rings, and a bracelet. Beautifully controlled and executed, the drawing can be attributed to the renowned Junia artist Chand, who worked for Raj Singh in the 1690s.
Artwork Details
- Title: Maharaja Raj Singh of Junia
- Artist: Attributed to Chand
- Date: ca. 1698
- Culture: India, Rajasthan, Junia
- Medium: Opaque watercolor and ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 22 1/16 × 13 3/4 in. (56 × 35 cm)
Framed: 25 1/4 × 23 × 3/4 in. (64.1 × 58.4 × 1.9 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: The Howard Hodgkin Collection, on loan from the Howard Hodgkin Indian Collection Trust
- Object Number: L.2022.30.18
- Rights and Reproduction: Photo © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art