Add Or 2770

Muhammad ‘Adil Shah II at a window.

By Muhammad Khan, Bijapur, c.1640.

Formerly Album 69, no.3, purchased from Mirza Yusuf Khan, 11 March 1914.

Inscribed on border and reverse in Persian: ‘tasvir-i sultan muhammad ‘adil shah’ (picture of Sultan Muhammad ‘Adil Shah); faint inscription on reverse: ‘kar-i muhammad khan’ (the work of Muhammad Khan).

Gouache with gold; red border.

124 by 86 mm; page 137 by 96 mm.

Sultan Muhammad ‘Adil Shah II of Bijapur (1627-57) is shown head and shoulders facing left within the arch of a window, holding a ruby in his left hand and the mouthpiece of a hookah in his right. On the left stands a courtier, probably Sayyid Nur Allah, who holds a staff and a letter. The window surround and its shutters are richly ornamented and a carpet hangs over the window sill.

Note: Two other miniatures of Muhammad ‘Adil Shah II, in durbar and alone, have ascriptions to the artist Muhammad Khan (Jaipur Palace Collection). Muhammad Khan appears to have been the most favoured painter of royal portraits at the Bijapur court at this time. The courtier is probably Sayyid Nur Allah, a man of letters, in whose society ‘Ali ‘Adil Shah II later delighted. Another portrait of him is in a manuscript of the ‘Divan-i Urfi’ in an American private collection (Welch (1959), no.19, where the present picture is referred to). Another miniature of similar spirit, showing Ibrahim ‘Adil Shah II at a window with a courtier, is in the Binney Collection (Binney (1973), no.127).