Maharaja Ranjit Singh (r.1801-1839), the charismatic Sikh leader, rides an elephant through a Lahore bazaar. In the foreground Hindu ascetics converse with a yellow-clad Akali Sikh and a Jain monk wearing a mouth-cloth to protect any insects from harm. Behind, craftsmen fashion gold and silver thread, while a father and sons admire kites and balls of twine in a kite-seller’s shop. This scene of bazaar life may have been painted for a French officer at the Sikh court.
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2nd February-22nd April 2012, Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin, Andrew Topsfield, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012), no. 77 on p. 180, p. 18, illus. p. 181
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