A portrait of Raja Karan Singh of Bikaner (r.1631-1669/74) holding a sword, Rajasthan, Bikaner, circa 1655

Drawing with use of colours and gold on paper

Indian Drawings and Painted Sketches: 16th through 19th Centuries, Asia House Gallery, New York; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge; Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, 1976
Life at Court, Art for India's Rulers, 16th-19th Centuries, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1985-86
Linear Graces, Harvard Art Museums, 1994-1995

Welch 1976, p. 112, no. 62
Desai 1985, p. 31, no. 28
Desai 1990, fig.6, p.374

Losses to corners, mounted on stout paper, tears, creasing and loss, as viewed.
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This delicate but powerful tinted drawing is executed in a style very much in the Mughal vein, and possesses the Mughal sensitivity towards portraiture. The pin-holes tracing the outline of his face suggests that this illustration was used as a pounce. Two other later portraits of Karan Singh are in the National Museum in New Delhi (see Khandalavala and Chandra 1960, fig. 66, no. 85, p.48-50) and in the collection of Gopi Krishna Kanoria (see Desai 1985, p. 29).

Raja Karan Singh spent the majority of his reign in the Deccan and Afghanistan fighting with the Mughal forces, until he fell out of favour with Aurangzeb. The sword that he holds, of Deccani style, could well be one that he captured during his service or that was presented to him in recognition of his military service with the Mughal forces in the Deccan. Karan Singh's bravery on the battlefield was rewarded by his being made governor of Daulatabad.