- Title
- Munir al-Mulk (Aristu Jah), Prime Minister of Hyderabad (served 1809-1832)
- Date Made
- circa 1810-1820
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 7 7/8 x 7 in. (20.0 x 17.78 cm); Sheet: 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (29.85 x 20.96 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1999.55.1
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Munir Al-Mulk, a.k.a. Aristu Jah (“Aristotle of the time”), was the Prime Minister (diwan) of Hyderabad (1809–32) for Sikandar Jah Bahadur, the Governor of Hyderabad (r. 1803–29). The inscription reads: “Nawab Sikandar Jah Bahadur, Aristu Jah.”
Sikandar Jah succeeded his father Nizam Ali Khan (r. 1762-1803), to the throne of Hyderabad, but was made a mere governor rather than the powerful Mughal Viceroy of the region because Hyderabad had become a British dependency through the Subsidiary Alliance treaty of 1800. Sikandar Jah was severely disenchanted by this loss of power and withdrew from active administration of the State around 1810 after appointing Munir Al-Mulk as Prime Minister and his rival Raja Chandulal as the finance and judicial chief clerk (peshkar).
Munir Al-Mulk stands with his hands held together in the gesture of respect, presumably towards Sikandar Jah. He wears the turban jewels of a jigha (plume-like ornament similar to an aigrette) and a sarpati (horizontal tripartite ornament). Around his neck he wears necklaces of pearls, emeralds, and rubies with bejeweled golden pendants. He wears matching armlets and gold rings. Around his waist is an elegant silk cummerbund.
- Selected Bibliography
- Markel, Stephen. Mughal and Early Modern Metalware from South Asia at LACMA: An Online Scholarly Catalogue. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2020. https://archive.org/details/mughal-metalware (accessed September 7, 2021).
