This graceful painting depicts a famous figure of the court of Kota, Zalim Singh (1740–1823) of the Jhala clan, an influential politician and a great patron of the arts. For several years, he held the position of prime minister in Kota and, thanks to his diplomatic skills, he was considered one of the most powerful men in Rajasthan.Standing under a canopy, he appears at a young age, holding a bow and arrow and wearing a sumptuous court costume and his emblematic turban. The important figure appears in other portraits in which he is often depicted in adulthood together with the rulers of Rajasthan.Around 1780, he is known to have commissioned a series of frescoes for his sumptuous residence in Kota, the Jhala-ki-Haveli, which had about eighty rooms. These focused entirely on devotional representations of Shri Nathji of Nathdwara, of whom he was a fervent devotee.

24.5 x 11.5 cm