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Shamsher Sen of Mandi with a youth
1760–70
- Medium
- Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 16.5 x 13.9 cm (6 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.); Border: 20.3 x 17.6 cm (8 x 6 15/16 in.)
- Culture
- Northern India, Pahari Kingdom of Mandi
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
In 1727, Shamsher Sen inherited the Pahari kingdom of Mandi. The artist has rendered him with an intense gaze directed at a man, possibly his lover, who greets him with respect.
The ashes on his forehead and neck mark Shamsher Sen as a follower of the Hindu god Shiva. In his turban, alongside an array of flowers, he wears a whistle, announcing his participation in a religious order devoted to Shiva. The inscription in the lower border reads shri damyan, meaning “Honorable Minister,” since he ruled as a minister of the Hindu god Krishna. Pahari rulers often pledged loyalty to multiple divinities.
