Ranjit Singh was the first Sikh maharaja of the Panjab, the region in the far north of the Indian subcontinent whose Persian name refers to the five rivers flowing across the plains. He ruled from 1801 until his death in 1839. This painting shows Ranjit Singh riding through a flower-sprinkled landscape on a white stallion that is bedecked with gold chains and turban jewels. The maharaja is dressed in saffron-coloured clothes with a brocade short coat, his only jewels being long ropes of pearls and a bazuband, or ornament for the upper arm. He is surrounded by companions, many of whom carry insignia of royalty such as weapons wrapped in cloth. Most important of these is the parasol – the ancient emblem of kings – that shades Ranjit Singh’s head.

The painting was given to the V&A in 1955 by Mrs L.M. Rivett-Carnac on behalf of the Van Cortlandt family. According to family tradition, this was one of a pair of portraits made for Ranjit Singh by his court artist and presented by him to Mrs Rivett-Carnac’s grandfather, Colonel Henry Charles Van Cortlandt, the other copy being kept by the maharaja. Van Cortlandt (1814–1888) entered Ranjit Singh’s service in 1832, and after the first Anglo-Sikh War (1845–1846) commanded Sikh detachments under the British.