The emperor Akbar Shah II (r.1806-37) in Durbar, attributable to Ghulam Murtaza Khan Musavvir, Mughal, Delhi, circa 1810

gouache heightened with gold on paper, thin outer borders of gold, black and cream, framed

Sotheby's, London, 13 December 1972, lot 40

In good overall condition, colours vivid, three inch crack to paint at middle right leaf edge, some minor stains to figure in white at lower right hand edge, as viewed.
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This painting of a durbar of the Emperor Akbar Shah II (r.1806-37) is one of the earliest of the many known versions of this subject. Together with the miniature in the Khalili Collection, signed 'Ghulam Murtaza' and dated 1809-10 (Leach 1998, pp.158-160, no.44), and another in the Chester Beatty Library, signed 'Khanazad Ghulam Murtaza' and dated 'year 4'/1809-10 (Leach 1995, vol.II, pp.808 & 810, no.8.55). Judging by the ages of those present, the exclusion of Akbar Shah’s fourth son, who may have been considered too young to be included, and the British Resident, Sir Charles Metcalfe, who arrived in Delhi in 1811 and is included in subsequent durbar paintings, it is possible to give a date of circa 1810 to the present painting and attribute it to the favourite court painter of the time, Ghulam Murtaza Khan Musavvir.

Three of Akbar Shah’s four sons are shown standing immediately in front of this artist's version of the peacock throne: Abu Zafar Siraj al-Din Muhammad, the heir apparent who was to become the last Mughal emperor as Bahadur Shah II (1775-1858, r.1837-57), stands in red to the emperor's right; his second son, Mirza Jahangir, stands in dark blue to the emperor's left, with his third son, Mirza Salim, in green, also on his left. The courtier whose head is to be seen behind the two younger sons and beside the throne is Shah Hajji Khawass.

Akbar Shah II succeeded his father, the Emperor Shah Alam (r.1759-1806), at the age of forty-eight, by which time the Mughal Empire had disintegrated in all but name. As titular king of Delhi, conquered by the British in 1803 during the Second Maratha War, he had little power outside the Red Fort harem, itself in a dilapidated state. Bishop Heber, on a visit in 1824, describes Akbar Shah: "He has a pale, thin, but handsome face, with an aquiline nose, and a long white beard. His complexion is little if at all darker than that of a European. His hands are very fair and delicate, and he had some valuable rings on them. His hands and face were all I saw of him, for the morning being cold, he was so wrapped up in shawls, that he reminded me extremely of the Druid's head on a Welch halfpenny ... Akbar Shah has the appearance of a man of seventy-four or seventy-five; he is, however, not much turned of sixty-three, but, in this country, that is a great age. He is said to be a very good-tempered, mild, old man, of moderate talents, but polished and pleasing manners. His favourite wife, the Begum, is a low-born, low-bred, and violent woman, who rules him completely, lays hold on all his money, and has often influenced him to very unwise conduct towards his children, and the British Government. She hates her eldest son [the future Emperor Bahadur Shah II], who is, however, a respectable man, of more talents than native princes usually show, and, happily for himself, has a predilection for those literary pursuits which are almost the only laudable or innocent objects of ambition in his power. He is fond of poetry, and is himself a very tolerable Persian poet. He has taken some pains with the education of his children, and, what in this country is very unusual, even of his daughters." (Heber 1829, vol.II, p.313).

For comparable miniatures see Leach 1998, pp.158-160, no.44; Leach 1995, vol.II, pp.811-2, no.8.56; Smart-Walker 1985, pp.40-41, no.19; Dalrymple and Sharma 2012, pp.108-9, no.32; Archer 1972, pp.202-3, no.171, pl.57; Falk and Archer 1981, p.131 & 431, no.227i; Sotheby's, London, 1 July 1969, lot 140; 24 April 1979, lot 60; Sotheby's, New York, 17 March 1988, lot 500; Christie's, London, 17 November 1976, lot 46; 23 May 1986, lot 164; 23 September 2005, lots 153 & 154.