Raja Shamsher Sen of Mandi seated smoking a hookah, Pahari, probably Mandi, circa 1730-40

gouache on paper (fragmentary), inscribed on the recto in nast'aliq script 'Rājah Shamshīr Sen Wāli Mulk-e Mandī' ['Raja Shamsher Sen, Governor of the land of Mandi'] and on the reverse in takri script 'Srī Rājā Samser Sen Ma(n)di - Edā'

Charles Ewart, London
Acquired in 1974

In fragmentary condition, a few stains and abrasions, as viewed.
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This elegant portrait of the young Raja Shamsher Sen (b.1722, r.1727-81) of Mandi, by an unidentified Pahari master, can be dated circa 1730-40 after comparison with other portraits of this bearded raja (see Goswamy and Fischer 1992, p.201, no.81; Goswamy and Smith 2005, pp.210-211, no.87). For a very similar arrangement of the lower pleats of the raja’s jama, see Archer 1973, vol.II, p.298, nos.38-39 (Mankot, c.1740-50).

The Raja was known as a devout ruler, though in contrast with the present portrait, several of the paintings of his court rituals appear to depict strange happenings. W.G. Archer quotes the following summary of his character: "Shamsher Sen seems to have been of weak intellect and as he grew up to manhood (c.1740) he fell under the evil influence of people of low social status, who used their power to their own advantage and the injury of the state... After the rani’s, his mother’s, death he became addicted to low company." (Archer 1973, vol.I, p.347).