Portrait of a ruler of Kangra (Maharaja Sansar Chand or his entourage) Attributable to the Purkhu workshop Line drawing, pigments and gold on paper India, Himachal Pradesh, Kangra, circa 1800 Drawing: 17.8 x 15.5 cm AR Visible wear, wetness This very finely executed study is stylistically comparable to the court portraits of the Kangra school, attributed to the studio of the painter Purkhu, under the patronage of Maharaja Sansar Chand (r.1775-1823). The ruler depicted in this drawing could be the Maharaja himself. However, it is difficult to identify him with any certainty, as the sovereign bears a striking resemblance to his immediate entourage (notably his brother, Fateh, and his son Anirudha) in some of the darbar paintings from this artists' workshop. Maharaja Sansar Chand acceded to the throne of Kangra in 1775, when he was just ten years old. From the very first years of his reign, the young sovereign took an interest in painting and brought to Kangra the best artists of the Guler school, in particular the sons of the famous Nainsukh. As a great patron of the arts, he oversaw the development of the Kangra school of painting, of which Purkhu was an important figure. A number of portraits of Sansar Chand, both young and older, are known today. One of them is in the Rietberg Museum in Zurich (inv. no. 2005.9) and is attributed to Purkhu, who was active in Sansar Chand's court between 1780 and 1820. Another painting by Purkhu, dated around 1810, is kept at the San Diego Museum (acc. no. 1990.1274), and depicts Sansar Chand receiving at an age close to that of the notable in our painting.