A Raja in Armor in Procession Before His Palace

Object Details

• Manufacturer

  Ruse & Turners (active 1805-late 1840s)

• Description

  Drawing of warrior on horseback, with 5 attendants and a dog, arriving at a palace. The palace inhabitants are shown on three levels. The drawing is incomplete and some of the graphie under drawing has not been drawn over with ink. The rider and his horse are the most complete figures and have pink watercolor on the clothing, sword and horse's side and legs. There is yellow gray watercolor shading on the rider and the attendants.

• Inscriptions

  (watermark) Ruse and Turners watermark, “[RUSE & TURNER[S] [/] [shield with a diagonal stripe across the face and a fleur-de-lis above] [/] R&T]” See drawing of watermark in the acquisition consideration paperwork found in the object file.

  (counter mark) “Ruse & Turners 1848”

  (verso) inscription in pencil and ink, "X [in pencil] Done by a Punjabi Native Artist about 1854 or so [in ink; steel nib pen]

  ------------------#25 [in pencil]

  E WM.-- 1

• Label

  While this drawing exhibits stylistic continuities with the Pahari school paintings (northwest India) produced for Hindu rulers in the 17th through mid-19th century, it depicts a Sikh prince or nobleman. The prince seems to be Raja Dhian Singh (1796-1843) because of similarities in profile and beard length between this drawing and published portraits of the Sikh ruler.

  The extent of the shading and the touches of color on the raja's sword suggest that this was intended as a finished drawing, rather than as a preparatory study. The drawing may have been commissioned by an English patron. Its support is a pale blue-gray English laid paper with a Ruse and Turner watermark of 1848 and an inscription on the verso suggests the painting entered an English collection shortly after 1854. In addition to laying down the figures' contours and the basic architectural structure in black ink, the artist delicately shaded the faces and the contours of the male figures in the procession and, to a lesser extent, the faces of the women in the palace.

  The elaborate palace is filled with the idealized heroines who appear in countless court paintings of literary and poetic subjects; their presence creates a romantic backdrop for the procession at the painting's bottom register.

• Provenance

  ca. 1850-?

  Unidentified individual, probably British, probably by commission from an unidentified artist in India [1]

  ?-?

  Ownership information unknown

  ?-2000

  Murray Lebwohl (1923-2011), method of acquisition unknown [2]

  From 2000

  National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift from Murray Lebwohl [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See the “Ruse & Turners 1848” watermark. See also the inscription on verso, which states that this object was “Done by a Punjabi Native Artist about 1854 or so.”

  See also the Acquisition Justification, dated September 28, 2000, copy in object file. The Acquisition Justification states that, “The drawing may have been commissioned by an English patron. Its support is a pale blue-gray English laid paper with a Ruse and Turner watermark of 1848 and an inscription on the verso suggests the painting entered an English collection shortly after 1854.” It is possible that the drawing was taken to the United Kingdom during the nineteenth century.

  Ruse & Turners was a papermaker in Maidstone, Kent, England, active between 1805 and the late 1840s.

  [2] See “Incoming Receipt,” dated May 11, 2000, copy in object file. The object was transferred from Murray Lebwohl to the Freer Gallery of Art for acquisition consideration on May 11, 2000. Object is described as, “Indian[,] ca. 1854 [/] by: Punjabi artist.”

  Murray Lebwohl (1923-2011) was a paper conservator and collector of modern American and European prints and books. Lebwohl was active in Arlington, Virginia and Washington, DC and he retired 1997. Works from his collection may now be found at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida; the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art; the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; and the Georgetown University Art Collection, Booth Family Center for Special Collections. Archival material may also be found in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art and the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

  [3] See the Freer Gallery of Art “Acquisition Consideration Form,” approved on December 20, 2000, copy in object file. See also the signed Deed of Gift, copy in object file. The object is part of the museum’s Freer Gallery of Art Collection.

  Research updated June 27, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mr. Murray Lebwohl (1923-2011)

• Origin

  Punjab, India

• Credit Line

  Gift of Mr. Murray Lebwohl in honor of Martha Smith

• Type

  Drawing

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1840s, 1850s

• Name

  Lebwohl, Murray

• Place

  Punjab, India

• Topic

  Raja, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Wars, Warrior, Art, Animals, Palace, Dogs, Horses

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Drawings