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Portrait of Raja Jagat Singh of Nurpur (reigned 1618–46)
attributed to Bichitr (Indian, active c. 1615–50)
probably 1619
- Medium
- Gum tempera and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Painting only: 19.1 x 11.6 cm (7 1/2 x 4 9/16 in.); Page: 41 x 32.7 cm (16 1/8 x 12 7/8 in.)
- Culture
- Mughal India, Court of Jahangir (reigned 1605 - 27), possibly Lahore
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Jagat Singh was a prince from a small kingdom in the western Himalayan foothills who grew up at the imperial Mughal court of Jahangir and his queen Nur Jahan. He was given the title of prince in 1619, and this painting may commemorate that event. Very few nobles from the hill states had positions at the Mughal court at this time, so his portrait is a rare imperial Mughal painting.
The emperor and his favorite wife frequently visited Nurpur, named “City of Light” in their honor, to hunt and relax, and Prince Jagat Singh was a favorite of the queen. She interceded on his behalf in 1624, when he joined a rebellion to dethrone her husband.