Raja Bikram Singh of Guler smoking a hookah (c. 1678–90): Art, History and Details

Raja Bikram Singh of Guler smoking a hookah (c. 1678–90) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The portrait of Raja Bikram Singh is the earliest depiction of a Guler chief and was produced in Chamba, possibly under the patronage of Raja Chattar Singh (r. 1664–90). The painting bears several features of early portraiture in Chamba—a straight Hookah pipe, striped trousers, large bolsters, and the sitting posture of the raja.

Object facts

• Title: Raja Bikram Singh of Guler smoking a hookah
• Date: c. 1678–90
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms, Himachal Pradesh
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 21.7 x 28.8 cm (8 9/16 x 11 5/16 in.); Image: 17.2 x 24.4 cm (6 3/4 x 9 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.89

A detail from the museum

Raja Bikram Singh was famed for his physical strength and could break a coconut into pieces with his fingers

Collection credit

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

Further reading listed by the museum

• Griswold, William, Cameron Kitchin, Chase F. Robinson, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, and National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian Institution). Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories, edited by Sonya Rhie Mace, Sarang Sharma, and Vijay Sharma. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026.
• Cameron, Ainsley M. “Considering Painting from the Pahari Kingdoms through Sight, Sound, Smell and Touch.” Arts of Asia, (Spring 2026): 79-91.

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.