- Title
- Rathore Shri Kinjan Singh Riding a War Horse
- Date Made
- circa 1850
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor, gold, silver, and ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 13 x 8 7/8 in. (33.02 x 22.54 cm); Sheet: 13 3/8 x 9 1/8 in. (33.97 x 23.18 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.75.114.8
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Identified by the devanagari inscription, the Rathore noble Kinjan Singh (dates unknown) rides a war horse with barding in a portrait intended to proclaim his warrior persona and assert the martial milieu of the dynastic Rathore clan of Marwar. He wears a suit of chain mail armor with breast plates and a helmet with an aventail or hood of chain mail. His helmet is embellished with multiple turban jewels. The lower set is made of gold with inset emeralds and rubies with pearl borders. The vertical element in the front is a jigha (plume-like ornament similar to an aigrette). It surmounts a horizontal, usually tripartite, ornament called a sarpati, which here has an extended bejeweled band that is tied around the helmet with silk threads. At the crest of the helmet is a plume atop a golden feather brooch. The turban jewels and the halo surrounding his head indicate his royal status. He has sectarian markings on his forehead and sports a flaring moustache and sideburns. Kinjan Singh carries two different swords (note the varying hilt styles and two scabbards), a black leather shield with a gold crescent and gold shield bosses, a rifle with an attached bayonet, and a reflex bow and quiver of arrows. His war mount is a speckled stallion wearing a padded textile armor overcoat, a metal plate chamfron protecting its face and forehead, and gold necklaces with pendent plaques. The horse’s legs are partially painted red to symbolize its victorious wading through a battlefield of blood.
