A large portrait of a Mughal prince, probably Murad Bakhsh, India, Deccan, Golconda, circa 1700

Sotheby's, London, 14 April 1976, lot 267 (part lot)

Arthur Tooth & Sons

This and lot 619 come from an album that was sold in Sotheby’s in 1976 and then broken up and dispersed by the London art dealer Arthur Tooth & Sons. The album was most probably commissioned by the Dutch traveler Cornelius le Bruyn in around 1700 and was entitled on the binding 'Mongolsche Keysers' and contained nineteen large-scale portraits of Mughal rulers. Le Bruyn published Voyages de Corneille le Bruyn par la Moscovie en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales, in Amsterdam in 1718, which was illustrated with engravings similar to this drawings. Another large-scale album entitled Persiaensche Teekeningen containing Persian portraits also probably commissioned by Cornelius le Bruyn was sold in these rooms, 7 July 1975, lot 222. Interestingly both albums contained cover sheets made of Japanese paper that would have been traded by the Dutch East India Company during this period. The style and size of the paintings relate closely to other Golconda portraits collected by travellers at this time, see Hurel 2010, pp.167-171.

Single portraits from the present album have sold in these rooms, 2 October 1981, lot 34; 15 October 1997, lots 72 and 73; 26 April 2017, lot 127 and 128; Sotheby’s, New York, 21 March 2002, lot 218 and Christie's 24 April 1990, lots 85 and 86; 27 October 2023, lots 64 and 65.