Raja Balewant Singh Sopura, Rao Moti Lalji Vakil, and Major MacPherson
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, 1870
India, Gwalior
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Two Indian nobles finalize negotiations with an officer of the British East India Company. Although they are seated on English chairs, and one of the figures is a Scotsman, the style of the painting accedes little to European conventions. Artists from this region maintained centuries-old artistic traditions, as seen in the use of the strict profile, flat plains of color, and geometric depiction of trees.

Little is known about the two Indian nobles, except that they appear to have been supporters of the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. They were attempting to gain the support of the Maharaja Jayaji Rao of Gwalior (1990: 1021), who controlled the sizable Scindia territory of central India. Major Samuel Charters MacPherson (1806–60) was the British Political Agent who was in residence at the Gwalior court, where the Maharaja allowed him to manage political and economic interactions with both the British and neighboring principalities. (SQ)

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