Nawab Muzaffar-ud-Daula Nasir al Mulk Mirza Saif-ud-din Haidar Khan Jang of Lucknow, Delhi, dated 1269 AH/1852 AD

Opaque watercolour and gold on paper; the inscriptions at the top traslate as follows: "The blessed portrait of his excellency Muzaffar al-Daula Nasir al-Mulk Mirza Sayf al-Din Haydar Khan Champion of the Sword of War in the month of Dhu'l-Hijjah of the year 1269 of the Blessed Hijra. When his blessed life had reached the age of forty-nine" (transl. M. Smith)

Maggs Bros., London, Orienatal Miniatures and Illumination, Bulletin No.24, December 1975, no.271

Room for Wonder: Indian Painting During the British Period 1760-1880, The American Federation of Arts, New York, 1978
The Indian Heritage, Court Life & Arts under Mughal Rule, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1982

Welch 1978, pp. 120-121, no. 53
Skelton 1982, p. 55, no. 112

Good condition - Some wear and tear on the edges and corners, some light rubbing. There are two extremely small holes at the bottom. As viewed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This portrait of Nawab Muzaffar was painted five years before the Mutiny and depicts the Nawab in his palace in Delhi, seated on a Bareilly chair smoking a hookah and holding a manuscript, flanked by Bohemian painted glass lamps. "The admirably civilized Indian society of pre-Mutiny Delhi is personified by this nobleman, who had come with his brother from Lucknow in 1852. With their immediate families, the two (according to their friend, the poet Ghalib, from whose letters we quote) shared halls and palaces, all adjoining one another... [When the Nawab left Delhi at the time of the Mutiny] these great palaces, left without a soul to attend them, were utterly looted and laid waste, though some of the less valuable, heavier things...the drapings of the large halls and pavilions and canopies and carpets, had been left as they were... Suddenly one night...these things caught fire...Stone and timber, doors and walls, were all consumed by fire...I could see everything in the light of the leaping flames, and feel the heat on my face...Songs sung in a neighbour's house are, as it were, gifts which it sends; how then should not a fire in a neighbour's house send gifts of ashes?
When the English forces entered Delhi [in the aftermath of the Mutiny], Muzaffar-ud-daula, with a number of others, went to Alwar, where the Raja was his friend. But he was taken prisoner there and brought to Gurgaon, where the British officers, without any trial or investigation or inquiry, shot him, along with a number of others. (Welch 1978, p.121).