Maharao Ram Singh II of Kota (r. 1827-1866) was born in 1808, ascended the throne at age nineteen, and died in 1866. He is portrayed in numerous dated paintings engaged in a wide variety of activity ranging from his official duties (durbars, state meetings, royal processions, and festivals) to his pastimes (hunting, entertainment, and erotic liaisons; see M.75.19 and M.77.154.22). In his early portraits in the 1830s his side whiskers are short, but from around 1840 onward they are longer, which is a useful feature for corroborating the date of the painting. He wears a distinctive style of headgear of his own design: a flat turban with a peak in the front.
In this fragment of an unfinished composition or preparatory sketch, the nimbate Ram Singh II is seated in a throne chair under a royal parasol on a terrace or perhaps in an uncovered palanquin. He is accompanied by bearers of honorific peacock feather fly whisks (morchal) and fly whisks made from the white tail-hairs of a yak (cauri or chowri), both signifying royalty. Ram Singh II wears his trademark turban, which is adorned with a sarpati (horizontal tripartite ornament) with an extended bejeweled band. His long side whiskers suggest a date of circa 1840. His hands rest on the chair arms and he holds a sheathed sword with a curved blade (talwar). Comparable unfinished portraits of Ram Singh II are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (IS.483-1952) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2004-149-67).
