Nawab Mir Jafar Ali Khan (r. 1757-1760 and 1763-1765)

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Nawab Mir Jafar Ali Khan (r. 1757-1760 and 1763-1765)

India, West Bengal, Murshidabad, circa 1760-1775
Drawings; watercolors
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
Sheet: 16 1/2 x 11 1/2 x in. (41.91 x 29.21cm); Image: 10 3/4 x 6 3/4 in. (27.31 x 17.15 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Neustatter (M.72.42)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

The inscription on this portrait identifies the subject as Nawab Jafar Khan. This is very likely Sayyid Mir Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur, known as Mir Jafar (1691-1765)....
The inscription on this portrait identifies the subject as Nawab Jafar Khan. This is very likely Sayyid Mir Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur, known as Mir Jafar (1691-1765). He was the governor (nawab) of the Mughal province of Bengal (modern Bangladesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odissa [formerly Orissa]) in 1757-1760 and 1763-1765. He was previously the commander of the Bengali army under Siraj al-Daula, the Nawab of Bengal (r. 1756-1757), but defected to the British under Major-General Robert Clive (1725-1774) during the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and was installed as the new puppet Nawab of Bengal. Mir Jafar wears an orange-and-gold turban adorned with a feather plume, jigha (ornament similar to an aigrette), and a sarpati (horizontal tripartite ornament). Around his neck he has strands of pearl with an emerald pendant. He wears an emerald armlet, a ruby armlet and matching bracelets, and an archer’s thumb ring (zihgir; see AC1995.168.1). Around his waist is a gold brocaded sash that matches the gold brocaded border and trimming where his long coat (jama) is tied under his right shoulder, indicating he is a Muslim. He has yellow shoes with floral scrolls. Tucked into his sash on his far side is a sword and the handle of a push dagger (katar; see M.74.101a-b). On the reverse is a stamped signature of the English collector Dr W.B. Manley (1885-1972), who served in the Indian Police in the Bombay Presidency from 1905-1924 and as an officer in the Bengal Lancers from 1917-1919.
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