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Lot Essay
‘Mongolsche Keysers’, the album from which both this portrait and the preceding lot come from, is not dated but the present painting is inscribed on the reverse in Dutch as depicting the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb at the age of 80. Since Aurangzeb was born in 1618 it would suggest that the portrait must have been painted in or after the year 1698. The album as a whole was sold in Sotheby’s, 13⁄14 April, 1976, lot 267 before it was broken and the paintings sold individually by London based art dealer Arthur Tooth and Sons.
The portraits are of an impressive size which suggests that they were painted in Golconda. A painting of comparably large size depicting Jahangir offering jewels to Asaf Khan which was probably painted in Golconda in the late 17th century was sold at Sotheby's London, 26 April 2017, lot 126. That painting is painted in a stiff but precise style similar to that of our two portraits which relates to other Deccani paintings produced following the Mughal conquest of the Deccan in the 17th century, with Golconda only falling to the Mughals in 1687.
The portraits are of an impressive size which suggests that they were painted in Golconda. A painting of comparably large size depicting Jahangir offering jewels to Asaf Khan which was probably painted in Golconda in the late 17th century was sold at Sotheby's London, 26 April 2017, lot 126. That painting is painted in a stiff but precise style similar to that of our two portraits which relates to other Deccani paintings produced following the Mughal conquest of the Deccan in the 17th century, with Golconda only falling to the Mughals in 1687.