gouache heightened with gold on paper, laid down on an album page with margins decorated with large floral scrolls enclosing flowerheads, the reverse with a composite panel of nasta'liq and naskh calligraphy, with a panel from a European print

In generally good overall condition, slightly rubbed in the background, minor paint loss to jama hem, light creasing, two horizontal lines of abrasion to lower centre and upper sections, as viewed.
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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."

inscriptions

In the upper right corner of the painting: 'Farhad Khan'
In the upper centre: 'Farhad Khan Sayyidi, work of Hindustan'
The large nasta'liq inscription on the reverse: an appeal (dawa) to Imam Jafar

This is an interesting portrait of an African courtier at the court of Golconda. Named in two inscriptions in the upper section of the painting as Farhad Khan, the figure stands proudly facing left holding a rose in his right hand, his left resting on a gold-hilted talwar, with a katar dagger tucked into his floral patka. He wears a white jama over a striped pyjama, with a golden turban and slippers.

The painting can be closely compared to number of other Deccani portraits of rulers and courtiers of this period, principally a 'Portrait of Akbar Shah Huseini' in the David Collection, Copenhagen (see Copenhagen 2001, p.103, no.76). Both subjects share a similar posture, and the plants and flowers amongst which they stand are remarkably close in execution. A further interesting comparison is another Golconda portrait of an African courtier of the same date in a private collection, London, published in Zebrowski 1983 and most recently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700, Opulence and Fantasy (see Haidar-Sardar 2015, pp.236-7, no.129). The confident pose of the subject is also recognisable in the present painting, and Sardar suggests that this implies "some social status" (ibid).

Other comparable portraits of African courtiers and noblemen in the Deccan are variously published, including two portraits of the prime minister Ikhlas Khan in Zebrowski 1983 (p.129-130, nos.96 and 97), which share a certain facial likeness to the present portrait) and a painting in the collection of Sir Howard Hodgkin of Sidi Masud Khan (see A. Topsfield, Visions of Mughal India, the Collection of Howard Hodgkin, Oxford, 2012, pp.116-7, no.47). Other related miniatures are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, British Library, aไnd San Diego Museum.