The Ajmer school lasted from 1630-1800. Its style can be direct, almost folkish; the later works seem to have more charm. It is thought that Ajmer artists passed their skill in painting elephants on to Kotah - a school that became famous for painting wonderful elephants.

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© Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UEA

Here the Raja is shown in an outdoor activity. He is simply exercising his sacred black buck. He has a typical Rajasthani face and his costume is Hindu because it fastens under the left arm. He wears the katar (stabbing dagger for hand-to-hand combat) in his waist band. This dagger, worn for self protection in the event of a surpise attack, is shown in several of the paintings in the Sainsbury collection,. His servant, holding the Rajah’s sword, is shown on a suitably small scale in the background. The painting of the sacred black buck seems very sympathetic.