This painting was formerly in the collection of the 'well-known Indian civil servant and historian, H. T. Prinsep (1792—1878), and the identifica¬tion of the subject as Bhim Singh of Jodhpur (1793-1803) attached to it when acquired by the Museum is presumably due to him. Nevertheless it is unacceptable because the Raja's features bear no resemblance to inscribed portraits of Bhim Singh, and the turban which he wears is not of the characteristic Jodhpuri shape. It seems rather to belong to Bikaner, but at present it is impossible to go further.
This is typical of the kind of state portrait in vogue at all the Rajput courts during the eighteenth century. The pomp and the choice of equestrian representa¬tion are copied directly from later Mughal imperial portraiture. The artist changed the feeling of the scene by eliminating the extensive landscape and arranging the figures more hierarchically.