Muzaffar Khan, attributed to Bhagavan, India, Mughal, circa 1577-80

J. Seyller & K. Seitz, Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection of Indian miniatures, Mughal & Deccani paintings, Zurich, 2010, p.35, no.2

Dazzling Visions, Mughal and Deccani Paintings from the Collection of Konrad and Eva Seitz, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 30 November 2010 - 10 April 2011

This painting is one of the earliest examples of this genre of Mughal portraiture. Portraits of courtiers and members of the royal household were made for Emperor Akbar as a visual record (Brand and Lowry 1985, pp.79-80). Abu’l Fazl tells us in the a’in-i akbari that 'His Majesty... ordered to have the likenesses taken of all the grandees of the realm. An immense album was thus formed: those that have passed away have received a new life, and those who are still alive have immortality promised them.' (tr. by Blochmann 1873 (reprint 1989), vol.I, p.115).

The subject is identified by an inscription that names him as Muzaffar Khan Turbati who was a Persian employed by Bayram Khan before joining Akbar's court in 1565 as divan (chancellor of the exchequer). He became governor of Malwa in 1573 and then vakil (chief minister). He was known to have been headstrong in character and on several occasions to have incurred the displeasure of Emperor Akbar. Muzaffar came to an untimely end in April 1580 when he was captured and killed in the rebellion of Afghan nobles at the fort of Tanda (Beveridge 1977, vol.3, p.449).

Seyller believes this portrait to be based on an unpublished uncoloured contemporary painting of Muzaffar Khan by 'Abd al-Samad, in the Gulshan Album, Golestan Library, Tehran p.206 (Seyller & Seitz 2010. p.35). 'Abd al-Samad was director of the imperial painting workshop at the Mughal court and was instrumental in bringing the Hamzanama to completion. Within Muzaffar's features one can see parallels with the facial types found in the Hamzanama. Seyller attributes this portrait to the hand of the imperial artist Bhagavan. He compares this painting with an illustration by Bhagavan of a bearded figure in the Kitab-i Sa'at, an astrological manuscript written in Hajipur in 1583. Seyller concludes that this portrait was made after Muzaffar Khan's rise to prominence in the late 1570s and before his death in 1580. A later portrait of similar composition is in the Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 1005038.g).