DECCAN, CENTRAL INDIA, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

In the late 17th century, around the time of the Mughal conquest of the Deccan, there was a sudden proliferation of portrait paintings. Many of these were likenesses of Mughal and Deccani rulers, often imitations of earlier known portraits, which were compiled into albums for European patrons in the Deccan as well as for export. An album of closely comparable portraits depicting Indian rulers in similar gilt medallions on plain green background is in the British Museum, dated circa 1680-1687, and bears identification inscriptions in a European hand (museum no. 1974,0617,0.11.8). For an oval format portrait of Sultan Abu’l Hasan painted in North India in the late 18th century which sold at auction, see Christie’s, South Kensington, 21 October 2016, lot 294.