Kunwar (Prince) Jagat Singh was first son and heir of Man Singh of Amber. Man Singh had a long and distinguished military career fighting serving the Mughals., Alongside his father Raja Bhagwant Das (r. 1574-1589), Man Singh was an essential ally for the Emperor Akbar and was considered one of the navaratnas (nine jewels) of Akbar’s court. After campaigns against Mewar and Afghanistan, Man Singh was sent to put down rebellions in Bihar and Bengal shortly after succeeding his father as Raja of Amber in 1590. It is here that we first learn of Jagat Singh who is noted for successfully defending Bihar from an army led by Sultan Quli Qalmaq whilst Man Singh was preoccupied in Bengal. Jagat Singh would also serve with his father and lead an army in the Mughal conquest of Orissa. However, it was here that Jagat Singh would tragically die from overdrinking in 1599. Jagat Singh’s mother, Rani Kanakawati, would build the splendid white marble Jagat Shiromani temple in Amber in memory of her son. Comparable portraits which may use the same charba (model drawing) are in the National Museum, New Delhi (inv. 50.14/12) and in the Jahangir Album (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Libri picturati A 117, f. 18v). 

Akbar commissioned his atelier to produce portraits of prominent officials and figures in his court, best recorded in the A’in-I Akbari, where Abu’l Fazl mentions that 'the Emperor (Akbar) ordered to have the likenesses (surat) of all the grandees of the realm. An immense book was thus formed: those who have passed away, have now received a new life, and those who are still alive, have immortality promised them'. (Abu’l-Fazl, A’in-i Akbari, trans. H. Blochmann, Calcutta, 1873-94, pp. 108-09). It is likely that the present painting was created as part of this project and our painting relates stylistically to portraits by the painter Manohar (a. 1582-1620s), son of Basawan. Unlike some of his contemporaries who showed greater concern for psychological depth in their portraiture, Manohar excelled in his skill at rendering faces, jewels and fabrics which made him a suitable chronicler of characters at court.

INSCRIPTIONS:

On the reverse two inscriptions identifying the portrait. In nasta'liq: kunwar jagat singhe pesar-e raje man singhe kachwahe raje ambeer 'Prince Jagat Singh, son of Raja Man Singh Kachhvahah, Raja of Amber'
The same in devanagari without the dynastic name Kachhvahah