Portrait of Maharaja Rai Singh of Bikaner (reigned 1574-1612) (c. 1590): Art, History and Details

Portrait of Maharaja Rai Singh of Bikaner (reigned 1574-1612) (c. 1590) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nur Muhammad (Indian, active c. 1580–1630).

The work and its context

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

Drawings such as this served as models for formal painted portraits of Mughal and Rajput royalty in court workshops. The confident contour lines, delicate shading, and subtle facial expression are the work of the master artist Nur Muhammad (active 1570s–1630s), identified in a Persian inscription on the back. He came from a distinguished family of artists who settled in Bikaner by the mid-1500s. Nur Muhammad also worked at the Mughal court, notably for the mother of Emperor Akbar (reigned 1565–1605). His descendants continue to be recognized as the master artists of Bikaner up to the present day.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of Maharaja Rai Singh of Bikaner (reigned 1574-1612)
• Date: c. 1590
• Creator attribution: Nur Muhammad (Indian, active c. 1580–1630)
• Culture: Mughal India
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Ink and gum tempera on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 20.5 x 14.6 cm (8 1/16 x 5 3/4 in.); Paper: 42.4 x 26 cm (16 11/16 x 10 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1987.1100

Collection credit

Gift of Flora D. Glass and Elwood G. Glass Jr.

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.