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Lot Essay
The matchlock gun reached India in the 16th century and despite coming to the weapon later a century later than Europe, Indian guns were looked on with great admiration. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, the French merchant and traveller, wrote, "The barrels of their muskets are stronger than ours, and the iron is better and purer; this makes them not liable to burst" (Travels in India volume 1, translated by V. Ball, Oxford, 1925, p.127). The Indian flintlock gun (tarodar) had a longer barrel made of thicker iron than their European counterparts which gave them greater ranger and accuracy (Charles Kolb, "Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and highroads to Empire 1500-1700"). Within the Mughal military, guns were the preserve of infantrymen with mounted soldiers and nobility expected to fight with a sword or bow and arrow. As shown in paintings, the use of guns was typically reserved for the hunt amongst the nobility and Mughal royalty. Nonetheless, the Akbarnama records a famous incident of Akbar displaying his prowess with the tarodar in shooting the Rajput hero Jaimal during the siege of Chitor in 1568 which is illustrated in the 'first' Akbarnama (Victoria and Albert Museum, IS.2:68-1896). A portrait of Shah Jahan by Payag, attributed to circa 1630-35, now in the Chester Beatty Library (7B.28), shows the Emperor holding a tarodar similar in type to that in the present lot.
The figure in our painting is very similar to a retainer decorating the lower borders of a folio from the Late Shah Jahan album, dating to around 1650 (Chester Beatty Library, 07B.35). Both figures wear a similar luxurious gold brocade jama with fur trim, carry the same type of dagger and sport a similar long moustache. These similarities in fashion suggest a similar dating for our painting. The green background of our portrait transitions seamlessly from the cloudy sky above through to the floral ground below without a visible horizon line. This convention is characteristic of imperial Mughal painting of the 1630s and 1640s and is comparable to the green ground in a painting of a black buck dated to 1640 in the Chester Beatty Library (55.2). This convention is also found on portraits from the Late Shah Jahan album including one of Jai Singh Kachhawa attributed to Payag sold in these Rooms, 26 October 2017, lot 180.
Mir Hashim was an artist in Shah Jahan's atelier and whose ascribed and attributable works are nearly exclusively single-figure portraits, often against a plain green ground. Milo Cleveland Beach notes Hashim's high level of technical refinement in his portraiture and his ability to give lifelike texture and weight to textiles (Milo Cleveland Beach, The Grand Mogul, Williamstown, 1978, p.127). Comparable works by Hashim include portraits of Muhammad 'Ali Beg, who sports a similar sweeping moustache, and Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah of Golconda both from the Minto album and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IM.22-1925). A portrait of Marhamat Khan attributed to Hashim, which sold at Sotheby's London 30 April 2025, lot 567, shows the subject in similar red shoes and gives similar handling of the gold brocaded trousers.
The figure in our painting is very similar to a retainer decorating the lower borders of a folio from the Late Shah Jahan album, dating to around 1650 (Chester Beatty Library, 07B.35). Both figures wear a similar luxurious gold brocade jama with fur trim, carry the same type of dagger and sport a similar long moustache. These similarities in fashion suggest a similar dating for our painting. The green background of our portrait transitions seamlessly from the cloudy sky above through to the floral ground below without a visible horizon line. This convention is characteristic of imperial Mughal painting of the 1630s and 1640s and is comparable to the green ground in a painting of a black buck dated to 1640 in the Chester Beatty Library (55.2). This convention is also found on portraits from the Late Shah Jahan album including one of Jai Singh Kachhawa attributed to Payag sold in these Rooms, 26 October 2017, lot 180.
Mir Hashim was an artist in Shah Jahan's atelier and whose ascribed and attributable works are nearly exclusively single-figure portraits, often against a plain green ground. Milo Cleveland Beach notes Hashim's high level of technical refinement in his portraiture and his ability to give lifelike texture and weight to textiles (Milo Cleveland Beach, The Grand Mogul, Williamstown, 1978, p.127). Comparable works by Hashim include portraits of Muhammad 'Ali Beg, who sports a similar sweeping moustache, and Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah of Golconda both from the Minto album and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IM.22-1925). A portrait of Marhamat Khan attributed to Hashim, which sold at Sotheby's London 30 April 2025, lot 567, shows the subject in similar red shoes and gives similar handling of the gold brocaded trousers.