Nizam 'Ali Khan Asaf Jah II kneeling on a palace terrace, India, Deccan, 18th century

gouache with gold on paper, narrow yellow and orange borders, numbered '308' in Persian and English on reverse

Nizam Ali Khan Asaf Jah II reigned at Hyderabad from 1762 to 1803. A standing portrait of him by the court artist Venkatchellam dated 1791-92 was published by Zebrowski in 1983 (p.268, fig.246) in which he is depicted at approximately the same age as here and wearing very similar jewellery. Other closely related portraits of Nizam 'Ali Khan Asaf Jah have been sold in these rooms 12 October 2005, lot 39; in our New York rooms 17 March 2015, lots 1189 and 1190, and at Christie's Amsterdam, 13 October 1993, lot 37, in all of which he has a similar sword and yellow scabbard as shown here.