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A view of the ‘dargah’ or shrine of Qutb-Sahib at Mehrauli.

By the Delhi artist Muhammad Yusuf, c.1845.

Inscribed in Persian in red paint: (above) ‘naqsha darga-i Hazrat Qutb al-Aqtab’; (below) ‘‘amal ‘abdihi Muhammad Yusuf ‘afa Allah ‘anhu.’

Water-colour; 447 by 592 mm (including surrounding painted frame).

Purchased 1986.

Note: Khvaja Qutb al-Din Bakhtyar Kaki from Ush, known as Qutb-Sahib from his residence near the Qutb Minar, came to India with the earliest Muslim invaders and became a disciple of Khvaja Mu’in al-Din Chishti of Ajmer. He died in 1236 and was buried in a simple grave at Mehrauli. The beautification of the tomb did not apparently begin until the 16th century, but the tomb itself remained an open enclosure. It is here surrounded by a simple balustrade with a velvet canopy over it. To the left is part of the wall of coloured floral tiles traditionally associated with Aurangzeb. The surrounding enclosing wall of marble ‘jalis’, with marble gates, was built by Farrukhsiyar in 1713.