Lot 182. The Emperor Jahangir with Asaf Khan, Mughal India, circa 1700; borders from the late Shah Jahan album, circa 1650-1658. Painting 7 7/8 x 6 5/8 ins. (20.1 x 16.9 cm.); folio 14 3/8 x 9 ¾ ins. (36.4 x 24.9 cm.). Estimate USD 120,000 - USD 180,000. Price realised USD 137,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019 

Opaque pigments with gold on paper, lines of nasta’liq calligraphy from a qasidah in illuminated borders above and below, finely illuminated album leaf, backed on cream card.

Provenance: Maurice and Edmund de Rothschild Collection, Paris
P & D Colnaghi & Co Ltd, London, 1976
The Khosrovani-Diba Collection, sold Sotheby’s, London, 19 October 2016, lot 9

Literature: Stchoukine 1929, pp.212-241. no.VII
Falk 1976, p.198, no.132.

Note: This fine drawing with its unusual plain pink background depicts Jahangir conversing with nobleman Asaf Khan, one of the most trusted and senior courtiers under Jahangir and Shah Jahan. His high status within the royal courts is reflected by the number of portraits composed of him. Asaf Khan figures numerous times in the Windsor Padshahnama. Two examples there, whose depiction of Asaf Khan is similar to this drawing, are "The wedding procession of Prince Dara Shikoh" (f.123A) and "The arrival of Prince Aurangzeb at the court at Lahore" (f.217B) (Beach, Koch and Thackston 1997, no.23, p.65, no.44, p.107). For another portrait of Asaf Khan, see lot 338 in the present sale. 

The distinctive borders of this drawing come from the renowned ‘Late Shah Jahan Album.’ For another drawing mounted with borders from this album, see lot 256 in this sale.