This portrait of a Muslim cleric or theologian (mullah) is identified by the inscription to the figure’s right as Mullah Raoza. On a reverse of the painting, an inscription in 19th-century English identifies the subject as Molla Roeha of Mal Rucha. Nothing further is known presently about either this mullah or the location. However, a mirror-image portrait from Golconda with an almost identical visage, garments, and posture is identified as Mullah Tayfur, the teacher (ustad) of Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah (r. 1626-1672). It is one of forty-nine portraits in the Witsen Album acquired in 1686 by Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717), now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (RP-T-00-3186-31). Numerous portrait sets of Mughal, Rajput, and Deccani rulers and important personages were produced in Golconda to introduce European textile traders to India.
Mullah Raoza is portrayed in profile in a stereotypical image of an aged mullah wearing a white turban, transparent shawl with an embroidered border, long green coat, and white undergarments. He carries a walking stick with a gilt ball terminal. He is set against a plain burnt ochre background, seemingly floating between the green ground line and striated clouds above.
