This drawing done in ink on paper is lightly painted in body colour and dates to c. 1830-40. It depicts a Sikh sardar, a title originally meaning "chieftain", or "headman" in Persian, but which came to be used routinely for Sikh men, and was probably done in Lahore or Amritsar, the major cities of the Sikh kingdom established by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1801 which survived until the Panjab was annexed to the British empire in 1849. The Panjab (literally "Five Rivers") was later divided into two following the Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, and is still partly in Pakistan and partly in India.
The Sikh court attracted artists from the independent kingdoms of the Panjab Hills who worked for new patrons, who might be Hindu or Muslim, or even Europeans in the service of the Maharaja. The sardar carries the standard black hide circular shield of the northern regions of the subcontinent, and equally typical sword with slightly curving blade. His uncut hair swept up underneath his turban identifies him as a Sikh.