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拍品专文
This extraordinary painting is the only known portrait of Ghulam Nasir al-Din, one of the prominent personalities of the Mughal court in Delhi on the eve of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The painting carries the hallmark style of Ghulam ‘Ali Khan (fl.c.1817–55), the foremost painter of the 19th century Delhi school.
Ghulam Nasir al-Din was the spiritual advisor to Bahadur Shah II (r.1837-57). Better known by his nickname Kale Miyan, meaning “The Black Gentleman” in reference to his dark complexion, he traced his lineage went back to Nizam al-Din, whose shrine was in Aurangabad. Kale Miyan's grandfather Fakhr al-Din (d.1785) had moved to Delhi in the middle of the 18th century, and was succeeded by his son Qutb al-Din (d.1817): both names appear in the inscription in the background of this painting stressing the sacred lineage of its subject. Ghulam Nasir al-Din enjoyed great prestige as the spiritual advisor (murshid) to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor (r.1837-57). His religious aura is emphasised in this painting by his nimbus as well as his simple clothing. According to Thomas Beale, author of Oriental Biographical Dictionary of British India (1895), Ghulam Nasir al-Din always ‘preferred the habit of a dervish'. This portrait was painted only a few short years before the uprising that brought an end to the Mughal kings of Delhi. After the mutiny Bahadur Shah was exiled to Yangon in Myanmar, where he requested from his captors only the privilege of being buried alongside his spiritual guide: a request which was not honoured. Though some sources claim that Ghulam Nasir al-Din died in 1852, his friend the poet Mirza Ghalib claimed that he was killed by the British during the seige of Delhi. He poignantly records how the ancestral home was destroyed 'as though a broom had swept it away, such that not a scrap of paper, nor a thread of gold, nor even a yarn of wool is left'. For a fuller account of the life of Ghulam Nasir al-Din, see Nile Green, Indian Sufism since the Seventeenth Century, Abingdon, 2006, especially pp.92-6.
The artist responsible for this seems to have been a follower of Ghulam Ali Khan. Ghulam Ali Khan is regarded as the foremost painter of 19th century Delhi, enjoying the patronage of both European and Indian patrons. Though he started his career as a topographical artist, he soon turned his hand to portraiture, and is considered by many to be one of the principle artists who worked on the Fraser Album. He certainly completed several works for James Skinner, a close friend of the Frasers, including a painting of a durbar in the National Army Museum, acc.no.1956-02-27-3. He also travelled widely and worked in the provincial courts of Alwar, Jhajjar, and Dujana (Yuthika Sharma, 'Ghulam Ali Khan and the Delhi School of Painting', in William Dalrymple, Forgotten Masters, London, 2020, p.147).
Similar to the present lot in its composition is a painting of Bahadur Shah II by Ghulam Ali Khan, one of which is in the Khalili Collection (MSS 987, published The Indian Portrait, 1560-1860, London, 2010, no.58, pp.164-5). The details of our painting, however, find their closest comparison in another portrait by Ghulam Ali Khan, depicting the perfume seller Bhagwan Das, in the San Diego Museum of Art (acc.no.1990:397). In that painting, the Delhi merchant is depicted on a similar blue and white carpet, with a very similar stone wall carving behind him and his name given in a framed inscription above.
A large group scene in the style of Ghulam Ali Khan was sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2011, lot 441. A painting of the Diwan-i Khass, signed by the artist, was in the collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, sold in these Rooms, 28 October 2025, lot 59.
Ghulam Nasir al-Din was the spiritual advisor to Bahadur Shah II (r.1837-57). Better known by his nickname Kale Miyan, meaning “The Black Gentleman” in reference to his dark complexion, he traced his lineage went back to Nizam al-Din, whose shrine was in Aurangabad. Kale Miyan's grandfather Fakhr al-Din (d.1785) had moved to Delhi in the middle of the 18th century, and was succeeded by his son Qutb al-Din (d.1817): both names appear in the inscription in the background of this painting stressing the sacred lineage of its subject. Ghulam Nasir al-Din enjoyed great prestige as the spiritual advisor (murshid) to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor (r.1837-57). His religious aura is emphasised in this painting by his nimbus as well as his simple clothing. According to Thomas Beale, author of Oriental Biographical Dictionary of British India (1895), Ghulam Nasir al-Din always ‘preferred the habit of a dervish'. This portrait was painted only a few short years before the uprising that brought an end to the Mughal kings of Delhi. After the mutiny Bahadur Shah was exiled to Yangon in Myanmar, where he requested from his captors only the privilege of being buried alongside his spiritual guide: a request which was not honoured. Though some sources claim that Ghulam Nasir al-Din died in 1852, his friend the poet Mirza Ghalib claimed that he was killed by the British during the seige of Delhi. He poignantly records how the ancestral home was destroyed 'as though a broom had swept it away, such that not a scrap of paper, nor a thread of gold, nor even a yarn of wool is left'. For a fuller account of the life of Ghulam Nasir al-Din, see Nile Green, Indian Sufism since the Seventeenth Century, Abingdon, 2006, especially pp.92-6.
The artist responsible for this seems to have been a follower of Ghulam Ali Khan. Ghulam Ali Khan is regarded as the foremost painter of 19th century Delhi, enjoying the patronage of both European and Indian patrons. Though he started his career as a topographical artist, he soon turned his hand to portraiture, and is considered by many to be one of the principle artists who worked on the Fraser Album. He certainly completed several works for James Skinner, a close friend of the Frasers, including a painting of a durbar in the National Army Museum, acc.no.1956-02-27-3. He also travelled widely and worked in the provincial courts of Alwar, Jhajjar, and Dujana (Yuthika Sharma, 'Ghulam Ali Khan and the Delhi School of Painting', in William Dalrymple, Forgotten Masters, London, 2020, p.147).
Similar to the present lot in its composition is a painting of Bahadur Shah II by Ghulam Ali Khan, one of which is in the Khalili Collection (MSS 987, published The Indian Portrait, 1560-1860, London, 2010, no.58, pp.164-5). The details of our painting, however, find their closest comparison in another portrait by Ghulam Ali Khan, depicting the perfume seller Bhagwan Das, in the San Diego Museum of Art (acc.no.1990:397). In that painting, the Delhi merchant is depicted on a similar blue and white carpet, with a very similar stone wall carving behind him and his name given in a framed inscription above.
A large group scene in the style of Ghulam Ali Khan was sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2011, lot 441. A painting of the Diwan-i Khass, signed by the artist, was in the collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, sold in these Rooms, 28 October 2025, lot 59.