Del Prado · Figure study
A turban, red waist sash and drawn sabre give this dismounted Jodhpur cavalryman a distinctive outline. The figure is a useful introduction to Indian service in a war whose miniature displays often concentrate on European infantry.
The identity in the listing
The reference retailer identifies a dafadar of the 1st Jodhpur Lancers. Its title and descriptive date range are inconsistent, so this entry treats the figure as a First World War subject rather than assigning an unsupported single year. Dafadar is a cavalry non-commissioned rank; translating the whole subject simply as “Indian officer” loses useful information. The horse is absent because the miniature depicts the man on foot.
Read the figure from head to boots
The folds of the turban make a different pattern from the straight lines of the tunic and boots. The bright sash draws the eye to the waist, while the sabre carries it outward. These details are useful when identifying loose Del Prado figures because a generic seller title may omit Jodhpur entirely. A side photograph should reveal the weapon and its relationship to the hand more clearly than a distant frontal shot.
A collection connection with a clear boundary
This figure can accompany a study of Indian cavalry or sit beside Australian mounted subjects in a broader Palestine-campaign display. Keep the national and unit labels separate: a shared theatre does not mean identical organisation or tactics. Check the sabre tip, scabbard and turban edges before buying. The useful collecting goal is a clearly identified subject with intact equipment, not a supposedly exact issue number borrowed from a different language edition.