Portrait of Jahangir (1569-1627)
Mughal India, circa 1605-10
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, with later nastal’iq inscription, lined
6 by 3 1/3 in.; 15.5 by 8.5 cm.
PROVENANCE
George Cumming (1752-1834), who served in the East India Company and was later M.P. for Elgin Burghs, Scotland
Sir William Gordon-Cumming (1787-1854), Baronet of Altyre and Gordonstoun
Sir John Kennaway of Hyderabad (1758-1836), 1st Baronet, who had been British Resident at the Court of Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II, Nizam of Hyderabad (r.1762-1803)
By descent to Sir John Kennaway (1879–1956), 4th Baronet: Sotheby’s London, 23 April 1956, lot 6* (unillustrated)
M. Gilbert Olivier (1914–1992), Paris
By descent to Mme. Jeanne Olivier, née Chapouilly (1914–2021), Paris
Private collection, Paris, by descent: Hôtel Drouot: Colin du Bocage, Paris, 9 October 2020, lot 18
* Designated as Sir John’s property in the 1956 Sotheby’s catalogue, where it is noted that the group of paintings being offered was “said to have been executed for the owner’s great grandfather at Hyderabad in the late 18th Century”. Only this painting and two others were described as seventeenth century, the description for this one stating that the then frame was inscribed “Sir Wm. Cumming Gordon from his affect. Uncle G.C.”
INSCRIPTIONS
shabih-i jahangir badshah
‘Likeness of Emperor Jahangir’
The portrait is immediately recognisable as the young Jahangir and, as it lacks a halo, must have been intended to depict him when he was still Prince Salim, prior to his ascent of the gaddi in 1605. He was thirty-six years of age when he became emperor and the treatment of the face certainly suggests a man no older than this and possibly rather younger.
SUBJECT
The reign of Jahangir (r.1605-27), the fourth Mughal emperor, was marked by consolidation of his empire and some of the greatest achievements in art and architecture. Like his father Akbar, he was a connoisseur with a strong intellectual curiosity, and this inspired the creation of superb palaces, mosques and tombs. At court he patronised some of the greatest painters, such as Mansour, whose superb portraits of birds, animals and flowers remain unequalled. He also commissioned numerous portraits of himself by masters such as Bichitir and Govardhan.