MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1615

INSCRIPTIONS:
In the lower margin: in nasta'liq, shabīh-i Āṣafjāhī (likeness of the Āṣafjāhī); in devanagari, Āsapha K̲h̲āṃ (Asaf Khan)

This extraordinary portrait depicts one of the most significant Mughal courtiers of the early 17^th century, Mirza Abu’l Hasan Asaf Khan (circa 1569 to 12 June 1641). The son of Itimad al-Dawla (Ghyath Beg), the head of Jahangir’s Treasury, he was also the brother of Jahangir’s favourite wife, Nur Jahan and the father of Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan’s much loved spouse for whom he built the Taj Mahal. As such he was more closely linked to the imperial family than any other noble, and a number of portraits of him were painted by court artists.

The sensitivity of the portrait of Asaf Khan here, along with the strength and depth of the colours used by the artist are very much in contrast with the plain background. The tendency to represent isolated figures against a plain pale or dark green background appeared at the end of Akbar’s period and continued into the reigns of his successors. One example of a portrait of Asaf Khan against a dark green ground is in the Musée Guimet (no.7178; A la Cour du Grand Moghol, Paris, 1986, exhibition catalogue, no.11, p.38). It is possible that the background of our painting was originally intended to be coloured, but the reality of the plain ground is extremely successful and allows the strength of the colours to be the primary focus. Another portrait of Asaf Khan seemingly on a plain ground is published in black and white in F.R. Martin, This Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India and Turkey from the 8^th to the 18^th Century, London, 1968 reprint, pl.191.

The gold identification inscription in devenagari in the lower margin of this folio indicates that it was at some stage in the Udaipur Royal Collection and part of an album that was compiled there. Other leaves with the gold inscriptions that were once in the Udaipur collection include a painting of Emperor Akbar with a Hawk and another of the Emperor Aurangzeb both in the National Gallery, Victoria (AS17-1980 and AS21-1980). Other folios sold at auction with similar inscriptions include two at Sotheby’s, London, 23 April 1996, lot 4 and 15 October 1997 lot 64.

A drawing of Asaf Khan, from an unidentified album is in the Chester Beatty Library (CBL In 45.2; Elaine Wright, Muraqqa’. Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, exhibition catalogue, Virginia, 2008, no.83, pp.436-37). That is attributed to circa 1615. Although apparently incomplete, the portrait depicts Asaf Khan in a manner extremely similar to our portrait, with one arm stretched in front of him and the other bought up to his chest. In the Chester Beatty portrait the outstretched arm holds a sarpech, a symbol of imperial power ordinarily held only by emperors or princes (probably intended as a sign of his relation and devotion to the emperor). In his other hand he cradles a portrait miniature that hangs around his neck. Whilst our portrait lacks these royal accoutrements, so close are the two that it seems possible that the Chester Beatty portrait was a preparatory sketch for ours.

Asaf Khan figures numerous times in the Windsor Padshahnama. Two examples of depictions of him there are ‘The Wedding Procession of Prince Dara Shikoh’ (f.123A) and ‘The Arrival of Prince Aurangzeb at the Court at Lahore’ (f.217b) (Milo Cleveland Beach and Ebba Koch, King of the World. The Padshahnama. An Imperial Mughal Manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, exhibition catalogue, Washington DC, 1997, no.23, p.65, no.44, p.107). Other known individual portraits of Asaf Khan include a folio from the Wantage Album signed by Balchand and dated to circa 1620 in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IM.120-1921, Paintings from the Mughal Courts of India, exhibition catalogue, London, 1976, no.128, p.73). Another is in the St. Petersburg Muraqqa’ which shows him holding the parasol and crown (Susan Strong, Made for Mughal Emperors: Royal Treasures from Hindustan, 2010, no. 108, p.144). Another portrait of Asaf Khan was sold in Christie’s, New York, Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence, 19 June 2019, lot 338.