Mian Mukund Dev

ca. 1750 - ca. 1760

Painting, in opaque watercolour on paper, portrait of Mian Mukund Dev of Jasrota (ca. 1720-1770) seated cross-legged, smoking a huqqa. The raja wears a bright yellow jama tied with a pink sash (patka), and a pink and white chevron-patterned turban fastened with a green jewel set in gold, and a feathered sarpech. He sits, supported by two cushions on a white trellis-patterned carpet. In his right hand he holds the mouthpiece of a yellow, flat-bottomed huqqa which stands in front of him on a red tray to the left of the picture. Alongside the huqqa and protruding out onto the red margin lies a red and gold talwar. Behind the raja, to the right of the picture, stands a female attendant holding a peacock-feather fan; she is dressed in pink, the colour of the raja's sash, and her sash is the colour of his jama, with a red turban. The background, which extends from the edge of the trellis carpet to a narrow band of light blue-red sky, is of a rich light brown.