A portrait of Jahangir and a courtier, possibly Asaf Khan, Mughal, late 17th-early 18th century, with borders from a royal album made for Shah Jahan, Mughal, circa 1640-58

gouache with gold on paper, floral borders from the Late Shah Jahan Album, two panels of illuminated calligraphy comprising two verses from different parts of a qasidah of Amir Khusraw Dehlavi

P & D Colnaghi and Co. Ltd., London, 1976. 
Ex-collection Maurice and Edmond de Rothschild.

I. Stchoukine, Portraits Moghuls, IV, La Collection du Baron Maurice de Rothschild, Renne des arts asiatiques, tome VI, 1929-30, no.IV, pp.212-241, no.VII.
T. Falk, Persian and Mughal Art, P & D Colnaghi and Co. Ltd., London, 1976, no.132, p.198.

Laid down on card, various creases, the border with discoloration as a result of being laid down on card, some water-staining to edges, minor tears to outer border, probably slightly cut down, faces detailed and strong, as viewed.
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This delicate, coloured drawing of Jahangir conversing with a nobleman is unusual for the plain pink background against which the drawing is set. The nobleman represented here may be Asaf Khan, the son of I'timad al-Daulat, brother of Empress Nur Jahan (and thus Jahangir's brother-in-law) and father of Empress Mumtaz Mahal (and thus Shah Jahan's father-in-law). He was one of the most senior and trusted courtiers of Jahangir's and Shah Jahan's reigns, his final appointment being Khan-e Khanan, which was conferred on him in 1636. Although his face here appears slimmer than in the portrait of him by Bichitr in the Minto Album (Victoria and Albert Museum, IM.26-1925, see Stronge 2002, pl.118, p.156), he is depicted several times in the Windsor Padshahnama, where his face is much closer to the present depiction, particularly in "The wedding procession of Prince Dara Shikoh" (f.123A) and "The arrival of Prince Awrangzeb at the court at Lahore" (f.217B) (see Beach, Koch and Thackston 1997, no.23, p.65, no.44, p.107).

The exquisite borders originate from an album prepared for Shah Jahan known as the 'Late Shah Jahan Album'. This and other closely related albums have long been admired for their ravishingly fine borders decorated with flowers, birds, floral scrolls or trellises, animals and human figures. The most recent research suggests a date for the execution of the Late Shah Jahan Album of circa 1650-58, right at the end of the emperor's reign (Wright 2008, pp.107-139, 366-411).