BIJAPUR, DECCAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1660

Sultan ‘Ali Adil Shah II (1656-72) was just eighteen when he succeeded the throne of the Deccani kingdom of Bijapur. In addition to the relentless pressure applied by the Mughals to the north, the young ruler found himself squeezed as well in the west by the rising strength of the Marathas under Shivaji. Nonetheless, he managed to maintain strong artistic patronage and some of the great Deccani paintings of the period come from his atelier.

The Bombay painter, who has been identified as Abdul Hamid Naqqash, was perhaps the greatest painter of this late period and is responsible for several powerful depictions of the young Sultan (Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar, Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy, New Haven and London, 2015, cats.66 and 67, pp.148-49). The present painting shares many of the same features found on the portraits of ‘Ali II by the Bombay Painter: the style of the face, lips and eyes as well as some of the textile details, such as the curtain, which were favoured by The Bombay Painter. However, a slight compressing of the proportions of the body and stiffness in certain details suggests that this painting is more likely the work of one of his followers.