Yechu Mussavir
Ranjit Singh on his Golden Throne
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, ca. 1830
India, Punjab state
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780–1839) is the most celebrated ruler among the Sikhs, a religious group founded in northern India by Guru Nanak in the 15th century. Although famously diminutive and disfigured by smallpox that left him blind in his left eye, Ranjit Singh was a charismatic and capable leader who unified the Sikh state of the Punjab and negotiated critically vital peace treaties with the British that staved off annexation of the region.

Court assemblies such as this depict an idealized vision of the Sikh court; the Maharaja’s status is emphasized by his size and the halo, which is a convention borrowed from Mughal imperial portraiture. His sons and a favorite young courtier sit behind him in distinctive chairs based on early 19th-century English models while ministers, an astrologer, and holy men sit before him.

The artist Yechu Mussavir worked in a style associated with courts in the Himalayan foothill region of the Punjab. Many paintings produced during this high point in Sikh history were painted by artists from these neighboring states who were attracted by opportunities to work in the flourishing Sikh center. (SQ)

Source :
Indo-Muslim Cultures in Transition
Conveners: Karen Leonard & Alka Patel
The University of California, Irvine: Social Sciences