Portrait of Emperor Akbar Shah II (1760-1837)
Delhi, circa 1840-50
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, gold margin with black border ruled in white
9 by 5 7/8 in.; 22.8 by 14.9 cm. painting
10 ¾ by 5 7/8 in.; 27.5 x 19.5 cm. folio
Provenance
Private collection, England
Cotswold Auctions, Gloucestershire, 25 January 2022, lot 296
Shapero Rare Books, London, 2022
Private collection, France
A portrait of the penultimate Mughal Emperor, Akbar II (r. 1806-37), sitting on a terrace holding a rosary in his right hand and the velvet-sheathed snake of a huqqa pipe in his left. Although the painting lacks an inscription, the sitter can immediately be identified as Akbar II due to his countenance and attire. He has a steady gaze, a slightly pursed mouth, an upper lip dipping down in the centre and a neat white moustache and beard. Encircling his vermillion turban is a brocade band secured at the front with a gem-set sarpech with a pearl-fringed turra to the left. The emperor wears a near identical sarpech in a formal portrait of him enthroned with his sons and courtiers gathered around, attributed to Ghulam Murtaza Khan, circa 1811-15, in the Cincinnati Museum. He is usually shown frontally, rather than in the strict profile view of his predecessors.
Shah Alam II, Akbar II’s father, re-entered Delhi in 1772 after having been exiled for over a decade. He re-established the royal atelier, and painting thrived once more under his son. One of the key portraitists, Ghulam Ali Khan, worked as both a court and Company painter. In 1827, he was commissioned to paint Akbar II on the occasion of the visit of Lord Amherst, Governor-General of Fort William. The resulting painting, now in the Royal Ontario Museum, shows the ruler sitting alone in a European-style chair, evoking elegant civility rather than imperial power. Our painting derives from this more informal portrait of the ruler. The ruler looks opulent and imperial with his halo, crown, elaborate robes and jewellery, but it records a thoughtful private moment rather than a formal audience.
The terrace setting was a typical backdrop for royal portraiture throughout the eighteenth century. The expanse of cool, white tones recalls earlier portraits under Muhammad Shah. Both the low railing with its intricate jali design and the blue sky with white sketchy clouds along the upper edge of the picture resemble a portrait of a young prince by Khairullah, circa 1806-11, produced in Delhi and now in the San Diego Museum of Art. Akbar II continued the durbar traditions of Mughal Emperors, but relations with the East India Company were strained, and after 1818, his title was reduced to King of Delhi. His successor, Bahadur Shah II (r. 1837-58), would be the last Mughal Emperor.