BY HUNHAR, MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1675-80

Details

KHAN JAHAN BAHADUR ZAFAR JANG KUKALTASH AND HIS FATHER MIR ABU’L-MA’ALI
BY HUNHAR, MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1675-80
Ink, pen and transparent pigments on paper, identificatory inscriptions in Persian and Devanagari in black ink below naming the sitters and giving the attribution to Hunhar, the verso plain, numbered '1400' and '16' in Latin and Devanagari script
12 ½ x 16 ¼in. (32 x 41cm.)

Provenance

Private English collection, circa 1900
Anon. sale, Rosebery’s, London, 11 June 2013, lot 1316 (part lot, unillustrated)

Engraved

In Persian in the the lower right, “Portrait of Khan-Jahan Bahadur Kukaltash Zafar Jang. He held the rank of 7,000 and 7,000 horses. At the time of ‘Alamgir Padshah he was always in charge of the army and in victories of Bijapur and Bhagnagar [Hyderabad], in the battles of Ujain and Dholpur accompanied His Majesty in his victories. He was wounded. At the time of His Majesty, he was called Mir Baba and when [‘Alamgir was] a Prince, he was his companion and close associate and at the time of ….” (text cropped)
In Persian in the centre: “This sketch by Hunhar, who in the past was called Kahar Gusain. His Majesty distinguished him by calling him Hunhar and he was a chief painter”
In Persian in the lower left: “This is the portrait of Mir Abu’l-Ma’ali, father of Nawab Khan Jahan Bahadur Kukaltash Zafar Jang, the one ‘Alamgir Padshah [called] Sayyid-e Khafi”

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Zafar Jang was foster-brother (kukultash) to the Emperor Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) and a prominent Mughal general who served in the Deccan. He gained great favour for his successful campaign against the Maratha leader Shivaji was appointed subadar (governor) of the Deccan, Allahabad and Punjab. He was awarded the title Khan Jahan Bahadur in 1675 so this portrait must have been painted after that time. He is shown here rather formally in posthumous conversation with his father Mir Abu al-Ma'ali. Portraits of Zafar Jang are very rare but an equestrian portrait, also by Hunhar, from the Johnstone Album is in the British Library (Losty and Roy, Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire, London, 2012, pp. 156-158).

The artist Hunhar was active from the late 1640s until around 1690. He was an accomplished court artist seemingly specialising in portraits. His style exhibits many of the tendencies of earlier masters including Bichitr and Govardhan (John Seyller, Mughal and Deccani Paintings, Zurich, 2010, p. 63). A painting of a Sufi gathering by Hunhar was sold at Sotheby's, 30 April 2025, lot 566.

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