Lot 39
A VERY FINE PORTRAIT OF A MUGHAL PRINCE, POSSIBLY PRINCE BIDAR BAKHT ‡
MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1670
Auction: 10 December 2025 from 14:00 GMT
Description
gouache on paper heightened in gold, mounted onto an album page with elegant and varied narrow gilt and polychrome borders, the prince depicted facing right standing in profile, wearing a gold patterned floral white jama over gold boots, a dagger tucked into his floral and gold patka, his right hand leaning on a straight sword, and his left hand holding what appears to be a sarpech, pearl and ruby jewels about his neck and red, and wearing a gold and green turban, verso stamped with a seal impression of 'Ibn Muhammad ‘Ali Najaf-Quli’, mounted, glazed and framed
Dimensions
23.5cm 16.5cm
Provenance
Beaussant Lefevre & Associes, France, 17 November 2015, lot 220.
The collection of a German enthusiast.
Footnote
This striking portrait was no doubt produced in a Mughal court atelier. It bears a very strong likeness to a portrait of Pince Bidar Bakht, identified by a an inscription in devanagari, that was sold at Christie's, 26 April 2012, and attributed to Mughal India, circa 1675 (see A Private Collection Donated to Benefit the University of Oxford - Islamic and Indian Works of Art on Paper, lot 17). In addition, it compares well in terms of style to a portrait of Aurangzeb attributed to the second half of the 17th century in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see accession number 132:11-1885).
Interestingly, the same seal impression of ‘Ibn Muhammad ’Ali Najaf-Quli' can be found on the reverse of a Persian miniature, signed by Mu'in Musavvir and dated to AD 1675, from the Sadruddin Aga Khan collection (see Christie's, Exceptional Paintings from the Personal Collection of Prince & Princess Sadruddin Khan, lot 87).