Raja Hira Singh

Raja Hira Singh (1816-1844) was a close companion of the Sikh Maharaja of the Panjab, Ranjit Singh. He was introduced to the maharaja by his father, a member of the Hindu Dogra family, who was Ranjit Singh's prime minister, a position Hira Singh inherited after Ranjit Singh's death and held from 1843-44. Here he sits on a western-style chair with a male attendant on a terrace.

This painting was formerly in the collection of Lord Auckland (Governor-General of India 1836-42) and brought back by him to England in 1842. It was given to the museum in 1953 by Lord Auckland's great-nephew, O.E. Dickinson.