National Army Museum

Nana Sahib, Rani of Jhansi (Lakshmi Bai), Koer (Kunwar) Singh and Baji Bai of Gwalior, 1857 (c)

miniature on paper, miniature

Accession Number

NAM.1959-11-372-1

Description

Nana Sahib, Rani of Jhansi (Lakshmi Bai), Koer (Kunwar) Singh and Baji Bai of Gwalior, 1857 (c). Miniature portraits in watercolour on paper, by an unknown Indian artist, 1857 (c). Four oval miniatures mounted onto a red velvet backing, manuscript inscription verso. Associated with the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). These handsome miniatures were found during the capture of the Nawab of Farrukhabad’s palace in 1857. The Nawab was something of a reluctant rebel, having been forced into supporting the rising by the presence of rebel sepoys on his territory. Yet he clearly felt an affinity for the rebel Indian rulers depicted in the miniatures as they were found on display in his bedchamber. Perhaps the greatest rebel of all was Lakshmi Bai, the famed Rani of Jhansi. Her conqueror, General Sir Hugh Rose, called her ‘the bravest and the best’ of the rebels.

Campaigns

Indian Mutiny (1857-1859)

Units

11th (Prince Albert’s Own) Hussars, (1849 - 1920)

Indian Army

People

Jhansi, Lakshmi Bai, Rani of

Bithur, Nana Sahib, Maharaja of

Mansfield, Sir William

Baji Bai

Singh, Koer

Churcher, E J

Sazaffiar Hosain Khan

Unknown

Dimensions

Width: 155 mm Depth: 15 mm Text: 173 mm

Inscriptions

Inscribed in ink on paper label verso: ‘These four miniatures were found by me in the Fort of Furrukabad, N. W. P. India, under a pillow of the bed in the use of the Nawab Rapees [?]. I was sent out by the Commander in Chief, Sir William Mansfield, at the head of a Column, to seize the Nawab, but he had made his escape into Oudh - I seized his brother, Gazaffar Hosain Khan, secreted in an under ground closet in the Fort - he was hanged, then and there, by order of the C in C./ E J Churcher/ 1857-58/ In charge of the State District’