BAIRAM KHAN PETITIONS THE YOUNG AKBAR FOLLOWING THE SIEGE OF MANKOT IN 1557, ILLUSTRATED PAGE FROM THE 'FIRST' (VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM) AKBARNAMA, INDIA, MUGHAL, CIRCA 1590-95

This episode probably depicts the conclusion of the siege of Mankot, which occurred during the summer of 1557. Sikander Shah of the Suri dynasty, who had taken refuge in the fort of Mankot, surrendered to the besieging imperial forces on 25 July 1557. He then sent messages of supplication through Akbar's envoy Atka Khan and Bairam Khan's deputy, and professed loyalty to the young emperor. Bairam Khan, the Khan-i-Khanan, petitioned Akbar on Sikander's behalf and as a result Sikander was accepted into the emperor's service and awarded the jagirs of Kharid and Bihar, although he soon fell out of favour again (Abu'l Fazl, Akbarnama, tr. H. Beveridge, reprint, Delhi, 2002, vol.2, p.90-91).

There are several diagnostic aspects of the present illustration that point to this episode. Firstly, the fortress in the mountains behind the encampment, with horsemen and palanquins emerging and soldiers carrying booty within the fort, suggest a recently ended siege and conquest of a mountainous fortress. Secondly, some of the mounted soldiers leaving the fort are wearing distinctive Afghan headdress. Thirdly, Akbar is portrayed as a boy, suggesting that the episode occurred in the first few years after his accession in 1556 (he was born in 1542, was thirteen at his accession, and would have been fourteen years and nine months at the time of the siege of Mankot). Fourthly, the figure of the courtier before him wears a Humayuni turban, the taj-i izzat, which was a type worn by only a few courtiers who had previously been in the service of Humayun. One of these was Bairam Khan, Akbar's guardian and the Khan-i Khanan, who was often portrayed wearing this distinctive headdress. The facial features of the courtier are also close to other depictions of Bairam Khan (for example, a scene of Akbar learning to shoot in 1555, see J. Losty and M. Roy, Mughal India, Art, Culture and Empire, London 2012, fig.31, p.69).

Sotheby’s is grateful to Marcus Fraser for cataloguing this lot.