Cleveland Museum of Art

Raja Dilip Singh of Guler on a dais

Date

c. 1707

Medium

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Culture

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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

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