Portrait of Sa'adat Allah Khan Burhan al-Mulk

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Portrait of Sa'adat Allah Khan Burhan al-Mulk
Mughal, circa 1740

Gouache heightened with gold on paper, on a white terrace with a gold balustrade with trees behind, the bearded noble stands in profile, wearing a gold turban and a white coat embroidered with gold and green flowers, tied with a gold sash and red boots, holding a gold staff, mounted as an album leaf with later gold border showing animals, humans and buildings, the verso with two distichs of Persian poetry in black nasta'liq on gold ground, signed 'Ali al-Katib, mounted with wide border of blue, white and gold floral design
miniature 9 x 6in. (22.5 x 19.5cm.); calligraphy 6½ x 3¼in. (16.5 x 8.5cm.)

Lot Essay

A prominent minister under Muhammad Shah, the subject was born in Persia in around 1680, and originally called Mir Muhammad Amin. He followed his father and elder brother to India in around 1708. He entered the service of a Mughal noble, rising in the service of Emperor Farrukhsiyar. In 1720 he was given the title Sa'adat Allah Khan, and the further title of Burhan al Mulk later in the same year. He was appointed the first governor of Oudh, founding the dynasty of the Nawabs of Oudh. Following his capture in battle during the invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739, he negotiated peace and was appointed Wazir-i Mutlaq. He died soon after at the age of 60.

A drawing in the Boston Museum shows him standing behind the Mughal ruler holding a fan (Coomaraswamy, A.K.:Catalogue of the Indian Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Part vi: Mughal Painting Cambridge, Mass., 1930, p.66)

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