Browsing Tag: Maharaja Duleep Singh

“We’ve been making work about Duleep Singh since the 90s,” Amrit says. “His story is so tragic. He has become a figurehead for Sikhs, a poignant symbol of what we once had and lost.”

The descendants of the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, forced to give the Koh-i-noor diamond to Queen Victoria, will launch a court action Monday for his body and possessions to be returned to India.

The first ever daguerreotype – photo – portrait of a Sikh or Punjabi was taken in Lahore in early 1848 by Dr John McCosh, a surgeon in the army of the British East India Company. The subject was Diwan Mool Raj, the Sikh Governor of Multan, taken captive and condemned to death by the British.

What is claimed to be the last portrait painted during his lifetime by the official court artist of the great Emperor of Punjab, Maharajah Ranjit Singh, goes under the hammer later this month. The superb miniature portrait was painted on ivory set in white gold brooch, also inscribed on gold - ‘Runjeet Singh'. It shows the aging Maharajah looking serious in his full regalia.