Maharao Ram Singh II of Kota (r. 1828–66) Hunting Buffalo (1832): Art, History and Details

Maharao Ram Singh II of Kota (r. 1828–66) Hunting Buffalo (1832) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In an energized hunting scene, the equestrian Maharaja Ram Singh smites a running buffalo with his sword. The Maharaja is supported by a hunting party, who carry various objects for the Rajput king’s vanity, including additional swords, a fly whisk, a parasol, and a canopy.

Object facts

• Title: Maharao Ram Singh II of Kota (r. 1828–66) Hunting Buffalo
• Date: 1832
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Kota
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera, gold and silver on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 31.5 x 41 cm (12 3/8 x 16 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.180

A detail from the museum

The Raja is heavily armoured for a buffalo hunt, perhaps symbolic of his financial prosperity.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.