Cleveland Museum of Art

His Eminence Commander in Chief and Party, Shimla

Raja Deen Dayal

Date: 1887
Medium: albumen print
Culture: India
Department: Photography
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

In 1887 Deen Dayal was appointed photographer to the commander in chief of the British Indian Army, Field Marshal Frederick Roberts (1832–1914) (seated, third from left). This casually dressed group of Roberts’s family and friends had just enjoyed a week of formal events, including a “fancy dress” ball celebrating the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne. That party inaugurated a ballroom built onto Roberts’s home. The following day, Roberts was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire. The tiger skin attests to British success at big game hunting. Its use as a rug reveals a very different attitude toward this favored pastime among the British than the Indians, for whom it symbolized royal power.

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Shimla 17th May 1887: Viceregal party. Lord William Beresford, Military Secretary, Captain Leonard Gordon A.D.C., Mademoiselle Clerc, The Honorable Basit Blackwood, Major F. R. Hamilton A.D.C., Mr. Oglivie Grant, Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace K.C.E., Private Secretary, Dr. J. Findlay, Mrs. F. R. Hamilton, Master G. Hamilton, Lady Victoria Blackwood, H. E. The Countess of Dufferin, H. E. The Earl of Dufferin, Lady Hermione Blackwood, Lord Herbrand Russell, A.D.C. (recto)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Shimla 17th May 1887: Viceregal party. Lord William Beresford, Military Secretary, Captain Leonard Gordon A.D.C., Mademoiselle Clerc, The Honorable Basit Blackwood, Major F.R. Hamilton A.D.C., Mr. Oglivie Grant, Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace K.C.E., Private Secretary, Dr. J. Findlay, Mrs. F.R. Hamilton, Master G. Hamilton, Lady Victoria Blackwood, H.E. The Countess of Dufferin, H.E. The Earl of Dufferin, Lady Hermione Blackwood, Lord Herbrand Russell, A.D.C. (recto); Viceregal Party Shimla (verso)

Cleveland Museum of Art