Maharaja Dip Singh of Kaparan (Kapren)

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Maharaja Dip Singh of Kaparan (Kapren)

India, Rajasthan, Bundi, circa 1775-1800
Drawings; watercolors
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
Image: 9 1/4 x 6 3/4 in. (23.5 x 17.15 cm); Sheet: 11 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. (29.85 x 22.23 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jay Dehejia (M.86.417.2)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

The devanagari inscription in the red border identifies the subject as “Maharaja Dip Singhji of Kaparan [modern Kapren],” which was a fiefdom of Bundi, Rajasthan....
The devanagari inscription in the red border identifies the subject as “Maharaja Dip Singhji of Kaparan [modern Kapren],” which was a fiefdom of Bundi, Rajasthan. Dip Singh was the brother of the renowned Rao Raja Umed Singh of Bundi (r. 1739-1771) and the uncle of Rao Raja Ajit Singh of Bundi (r. 1771-1773; see AC1993.162.1). This portrait of Dip Singh was likely made during the reign of Rao Raja Bishan Singh of Bundi (r. 1773-1821), who entered a tributary alliance with the British East India Company in 1818. Dip Singh is portrayed seated on a terrace under a canopy listening to a singer and a musician playing a drone instrument (tambura). He wears a red-and-gold turban crested with a plume set in a golden feather brooch and, above the brow, the royal turban jewels of a jigha (similar to an aigrette) and a sarpati (horizontal tripartite ornament). He is smoking a hookah and holds a lotus symbolic of his cultural refinement. His punch dagger (katar) tucked into his waist sash and his sword and shield on the carpet beside him convey his prowess as a Rajput warrior. Behind him is an attendant waiving an honorific fly whisk made with a white yak tail.
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