Raja Amrit Pal of Basohli (r. 1757-1776)

* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

Raja Amrit Pal of Basohli (r. 1757-1776)

India, Jammu and Kashmir, Basohli, circa 1780
Drawings; watercolors
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Image: 7 1/4 x 5 1/8 in. (18.42 x 13.02 cm); Sheet: 10 5/8 x 7 7/8 in. (26.99 x 20 cm)
Gift of Michael and Diandra Douglas (M.80.223.1)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Raja Amrit Pal of Basohli (r. 1757-1776) was born in 1745. He succeeded his father Raja Jit Pal (r. 1736-1757) at the age of twelve in 1757 and ruled for nineteen years....
Raja Amrit Pal of Basohli (r. 1757-1776) was born in 1745. He succeeded his father Raja Jit Pal (r. 1736-1757) at the age of twelve in 1757 and ruled for nineteen years. In 1759 he married a daughter of Raja Abhaya Chand of Kangra (r. 1747-1760), who was the mother of his successor, Raja Vijay Pal (r. 1776-1806). Amrit Pal abdicated his throne in 1776 after an astrologer’s prediction that he would die at the holy city of Varanasi (Benares), in present-day Uttar Pradesh. As foretold, he died at age thirty-three in Varanasi in 1778. Said to be a scholarly and devout ruler, Amrit Pal spent much of his reign at the Jammu court with his father-in-law Raja Ranjit Dev (r. 1735-1781). The artist Ranjha (circa 1750-1830, active circa 1778-1827) was the fourth son of the celebrated artist Nainsukh of Guler (circa 1710-1778, active circa 1730-1778). In this painting, Amrit Pal stands in a flowering garden represented in linear perspective with an empty canopied bed in the distance. His only jewelry is an earring and a pinky ring. He wears a long white coat (jama) with a matching turban and waist sash, the ends of the latter embellished with gold embroidery. He holds a bouquet and the hilt of a sheathed sword with its sword belt wrapped around the scabbard. This painting was formerly in the collection of Maharaja Dr. Karan Singh, Sadr-i-Riyasat [President] of Jammu and Kashmir" and previously in the collection of Pahda Kunj Lal, the family physician of the Rajas of Basohli.
More...

Bibliography

  • Randhawa, M.S. "Some Portraits of Rajas of Basohli in Kangra Style." Roopa-Lekha 34: 5-9.
  • Einzig, Barbara, ed. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Report, July 1, 1979-June 30, 1981. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1982.