“A Soldier of His Highness Dogra Sowar” by Mortimer Menpes, R. I.

A Soldier of His Highness Dogra Sowar

Mortimer Menpes

1903

Watercolor

Source: The Durbar, facing p. 136

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Related material

Half-length portraits of individuals

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“One man came before me, a soldier with a heron's plume in his turban; and he was so magnificent that I promptly made a study of him as he stood there. He wore a blood-red turban trimmed with gold, in which the heron's plume waved bravely. Over his cobalt-blue coat was thrown a mantle of purple trimmed with gold; there was a gold belt and pouch of gold; round his neck hung an orange ribbon decorated with rubies and emeralds, as well as strings of pearls, tightly wound ; and two large and perfect pearls adorned his ears. He was a soldier. There were no others exactly like him. Some were equally gorgeous; but they were all different in get-up” (140-41).

Bibliography

Menpes, Mortimer. The Durbar. Text by Dorothy Menpes. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1903. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California at Los Angeles Library. Web. 27 May 2017.

Last modified 29 May 2017