MULLAH NASR AL-DIN DO-PIYAZA ON AN EMACIATED HORSE
PROPERTY FROM THE DEXTER COLLECTION
Possibly Murshidabad, West Bengal, or Awadh, India, mid-18th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical portrait depicting Mullah Do-Piyaza, Emperor Akbar's advisor and vizier, on an emaciated horse, wearing a long white robe and a multi-folded white turban with light blue taj at the top, a typical portrait of this Mughal figure, a distant city in the background, to the lower-left corner an inscription in black ink nasta'liq reading 'Sh.. Mullah Do Piyaza', pasted onto a later page with red, gold and black rules, and mounted on a later floral border with cusped cobalt blue cartouches, notes in pencil and an old faded inventory number at the back, 31cm x 22cm.

For similar paintings of the same subject sold at auction before, please see Christie's New York, 21 March 2008, lot 715; and Christie's London, 8 October 2010, lot 461.