Raja Dilip Singh of Guler on a dais (c. 1707): Art, History and Details

Raja Dilip Singh of Guler on a dais (c. 1707) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Dilip Singh (reigned 1695–1741) holds a manuscript page with alternating lines of red and black ink, which may be a sacred text that announces his devotion to the Hindu god Vishnu, whose mark appears on his forehead. He inaugurated the practice of commissioning paintings and manuscripts for the royal collection at Guler. Some members of a family of artists of Guler had worked in the Mughal imperial workshop in Lahore in present-day Pakistan. They brought a vision of naturalism and delicate refinement evident in the trees, his facial features, Mughal-style belted tunic, and carpet with floral patterns.

Object facts

• Title: Raja Dilip Singh of Guler on a dais
• Date: c. 1707
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 22.7 x 15.3 cm (8 15/16 x 6 in.); Overall: 27.1 x 19.8 cm (10 11/16 x 7 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1960.49

A detail from the museum

He holds a manuscript, possibly referencing his court chronicle the Diliparanjani, completed in 1707.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Asia Society, Sherman E. Lee, and George Montgomery. Rajput Painting; with an introductory essay and catalogue notes. New York: Asia House, 1960.
• Heeramaneck, Alice N. Masterpieces of Indian Painting: From the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck. Verona, Italy: A.N. Heeramaneck, 1984.
• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.

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.