Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra and Courtiers

c. 1783

Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra and Courtiers, c. 1783. Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Pahari Kingdom of Kangra. Gum tempera and gold on paper; overall: 24.2 x 21.6 cm (9 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Clara Taplin Rankin 1986.63 Ruler of the western Himalayan kingdom of Kangra from 1775 to 1823, Sansar Chand (1765–1823) is seated on a red dais. As a youth at around 18 years of age, he still has not grown a beard, and his distinctive curly bushy hair is visible beneath his pink turban. This portrait may commemorate the Mughals relinquishing control of Kangra in 1783. This painting once belonged to Cleveland attorney George P. Bickford, who endowed positions at the CMA and Harvard.