- Title
- Maharaja Kalyan Singh of Kishangarh (r. 1798-1839)
- Date Made
- 1808
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 10 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (26.03 x 18.41 cm); Sheet: 11 5/8 x 8 5/8 in. (29.51 x 22 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.85.36
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Maharaja Kalyan Singh (r. 1798-1839) was born in 1794. He ascended the throne in 1798 and reigned under a Council of Regency until he came of age and assumed full ruling powers in 1818. He resigned his administrative powers in 1832 in favor of his son, Prince Mokkam Singh (1817-1841; r.1839-1841), and died in 1839. A devanagari inscription on the reverse states that the nimbate Kalyan Singh was fourteen years old at the time of this royal portrait, hence it was executed in 1808. A portrait of Kalyan Singh painted in 1830 is in the British Library, London (Add. 27254, f.63v).
The nimbate Kalyan Singh is depicted seated on an orange carpet with a falcon perched on his gloved right hand. He is conferring with two Rajput nobles seated in front of him with an attendant behind them. Kalyan Singh is accompanied by two armed attendants, one of whom carries an honorific peacock feather fly whisk (morchal) signifying royalty. The meeting is being held on a small island in a pool below a waterfall in a Kishangarh-style landscape with waterfowl in the foreground.
