Equestrian portrait
Date
1815
Creator
Unknown, Engraver
After
Unknown Deli artist (Indian) , Artist
Object type
Library reference
RCN38165
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 280mm
width (print): 210mm
width (print): 210mm
Subject
Politics & Government
> Political doctrines
> British Empire
Politics & Government
> Political doctrines
> British colonialism
> Political doctrines
> British Empire
Politics & Government
> Political doctrines
> British colonialism
Content object
Description
Equestrian portrait showing the dress of a high-status Durrānī man of Afghanistan. Side view of the subject sitting a grey horse. The rider carries a sword and wears a saffron and gold robe, decorated sash, brown tunic and turban.
Plate 3 from Mountstuart Elphinstone's An account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India… (London, 1815), an account of his embassy to the ruler of Afghanistan, Shuja Shah Durrani Khan (1785-1842) in 1808.
Inscribed ‘PL. III. A Dooraunee Gentleman. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, Paternoster Row, 1815.’
The accompanying text states that: ‘the people about towns, most of those in villages, and all of those shepherds who are in easy circumstances, wear a dress nearly resembling that of Persia; which though not very convenient, is remarkably decorous, and with the addition of a beard, gives an appearance of gravity and respectability to the lowest of the common people.’
Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779–1859), East India Company administrator from 1776, known for his periods as Resident at Poona and Governor of Bombay in the 1810s and 1820s, and involvement in the Anglo-Maratha wars.
The Durrānī are one of the largest communities of the Pashtun diaspora. Their traditional homeland is southern Afghanistan, straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan.
Plate 3 from Mountstuart Elphinstone's An account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India… (London, 1815), an account of his embassy to the ruler of Afghanistan, Shuja Shah Durrani Khan (1785-1842) in 1808.
Inscribed ‘PL. III. A Dooraunee Gentleman. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, Paternoster Row, 1815.’
The accompanying text states that: ‘the people about towns, most of those in villages, and all of those shepherds who are in easy circumstances, wear a dress nearly resembling that of Persia; which though not very convenient, is remarkably decorous, and with the addition of a beard, gives an appearance of gravity and respectability to the lowest of the common people.’
Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779–1859), East India Company administrator from 1776, known for his periods as Resident at Poona and Governor of Bombay in the 1810s and 1820s, and involvement in the Anglo-Maratha wars.
The Durrānī are one of the largest communities of the Pashtun diaspora. Their traditional homeland is southern Afghanistan, straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan.
Associated place