This is one of over 40 portraits from South Asia painted at the request of Queen Victoria. Sunder Singh was the son of a silversmith of the Sikh Kuku caste (followers of Bhai Ram Singh, who was also a subject of a portrait by Swoboda, RCIN 403750). He was a student at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore, in the Punjab, and was 10 years old, although he claimed to be 12. Sunder Singh probably also appears as the figure of the boy perching on the fence in another painting by Swoboda in the Royal Collection, A Peep at the Train (RCIN 403759), which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1892.

Rudolph Swoboda sailed for India on 7 October 1886. Queen Victoria paid for his passage and gave him £300 to cover his travelling expenses. In return he was to provide the Queen with sketches worth £300. The Queen gave Swoboda specific instructions: ‘The Sketches Her Majesty wishes to have – are of the various types of the different nationalities. They should consist of heads of the same size as those already done for The Queen, and also small full lengths, as well as sketches of landscapes, buildings, and other scenes. Her Majesty does not want any large pictures done at first, but thinks that perhaps you could bring away material for making them should they eventually be wished for.’ When Sir Howard Elphinstone, a contemporary, saw some of the sketches in 1888 he observed: ‘They are very clever indeed, most characteristic of the different types, & drawn with wonderful vigour’. When Queen Victoria received them she was very pleased and thought them ‘such lovely heads… beautiful things’.