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 costume of an official of the Court of the King of Caubul (Afghanistan). The illustration is intended as a portrait of the office, rather than of a specific individual. Side view of a mounted man riding a white horse. He wears a brown tunic trimmed with gold and tied with a patterned sash. He wears a plumed head-dress and carries a curved sword and a quiver of arrows.
Plate 13 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. XIII. The Chaous Baushee in his Dress of Office. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, Paternoster Row, 1815.’
According to the accompanying text, ‘Each of the branches [of the court and household]…is distinguished by a particular dress…The Chaous Baushee presents persons admitted to pay their respects to the king, dismisses the court, and communicates the king’s orders on such occasions, according to the set forms in the Toorkee language.’
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.
Plate 13 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. XIII. The Chaous Baushee in his Dress of Office. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, Paternoster Row, 1815.’
According to the accompanying text, ‘Each of the branches [of the court and household]…is distinguished by a particular dress…The Chaous Baushee presents persons admitted to pay their respects to the king, dismisses the court, and communicates the king’s orders on such occasions, according to the set forms in the Toorkee language.’
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.
Associated place