Mughal, attributed to the artist Khem

Sotheby's London, 26 April 1991, lot 39.

This folio is from a dispersed royal Mughal copy of the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) that is believed to have been commissioned by Emperor Akbar’s mother Hamida Banu Begum. This copy of the Akbarnama has become known by scholars as the ‘third Akbarnama’. Other folios from the same manuscript are found in The Khalili Collection (Leach 1998, no.10) and The Cleveland Museum of Art (Quintanilla 2016, p.153). There are two other well-known extant illustrated royal copies of the Akbarnama, one in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the other divided between the British Library and the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. Research into the ‘third Akbarnama’ that the present folio belongs to has been carried out by Linda York Leach. In Leach’s article ‘Pages from an Akbarnama’ in Crill, Stronge & Topsfield 2004, pp.42-55, Leach cites the present folio suggesting that it possibly belonged to the ‘second (British Library/Chester Beatty) Akbarnama’ (ibid. p.54, f/n.8.) due to the size. However other miniatures from the ‘third Akbarnama’ have since been identified including one sold through these rooms 18 October 2001, lot 67 and another with Simon Ray, 2018 no.2, that possess similar stylistic traits and identical borders with inscriptions in the same hand.

One of the characteristics of the ‘third Akbarnama’ is the preference for scenes that include Humayun, Hamida Banu Begum’s husband and Akbar’s father (ibid. p.47). The present folio depicts a prince, who along with his attendants are wearing Safavid style turbans which could be indicative of an episode from Humayun’s time in Persia. The inscription in the border states that ‘the prince comes to welcome’ and could be a representation of Prince Muhammad Mirza, the future Shah Muhammad Khudabanda, coming to meet Humayun outside Herat as described in an episode by Abu’l Fazl in the Akbarnama (Beveridge 1907, vol I. p.433.)

This folio and the other Indian and Persian miniatures in the sale were all acquired by Freddie Mercury within the last six months of his life. It is possible that his illness may have brought about a contemplation of his ancestry. Mercury’s family belonged to the Parsi community who originated from Bulsar in Western India and followed the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. Mercury was born in Zanzibar but spent most of his childhood in India, sent away to boarding school in Bombay, where he showed a keen interest in music and art from an early age. Mercury could have possibly identified with the young Persian prince depicted here in this Indian miniature. Early Mughal painting was an assimilation of Indian and Persian styles that one could say relates to Mercury’s own Indo-Persian heritage.