1. BIKANER. Maharaj Sadul Singh, a signed and dated presentation portrait of 1937

An excellent bust length portrait Maharaj Sadul Singh of Bikaner, 10½ x 7½ ins, pasted to card, signed and dated lower right in ink Sadul Singh 1937. The portrait is housed in a contemporary presentation frame with the sitter’s monogram SS engraved in the arched top and floral decoration to the corners. Almost certainly of Indian silver it does not have any maker’s marks but is pinned to a wooden frame with hinged strut. The Maharajkumar wears cavalry uniform of the Bikaner Imperial State Forces with an aiguillette denoting his status as an aide de camp. There are no rank badges but the lace pattern suggests he is a colonel. His medals are those of the Coronation of King George VI and the Delhi Durbar 1911, at both these events he served the King, in the first as a very young page of honour. At the neck he wears the badge of a Companion of the Royal Victorian Order. In his turban he wears one of the portrait miniature He was the heir to his father brooches that his father often wore. Born in 1902 Sadul Singh was the eldest surviving son of Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh whom he was to succeed in 1943, becoming the last ruling Maharaja of Bikaner and dying in 1950. There is a little damp staining to the extreme lower edge of the photograph, only a little visible extreme lower left when in the frame. Intriguingly the reverse of the card has a bust length portrait of an elegant young lady, 8½ x 6½, tipped to the card by brown tape. This appears to have been there since the portrait was framed and is perhaps the recipient.  A scarce and very well presented souvenir of Bikaner. dec16/2