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Claudia Hill
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Company School, India
The last mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Delhi School
( India & South Asia
c. 1855
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Medium
watercolour on India
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Dimensions
4.00inch high
( 10.16 cm high)
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Condition:
Excellent
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Description / Expertise
Delhi School, circa 1855
The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar (1775-1862), seated, inside the Red Fort with the Yamuna river in the background. He wears fur trimmed yellow gown figured with floral motif, long triple stranded pearl necklace set with rubies and emeralds, a fancy head dress decorated with jewels and feathers
Gilt-metal mount, paper backing inscribed Mrs. Feilden/ King of Delhi/ & his favourite wife
Zafar had four wives, twenty two sons and thirty two daughters. His favourite wife was Zeenat Mahal.
Personally, he was one of the most talented, tolerant and likeable of his dynasty: a skilled calligrapher, a profound writer on Sufism, a discriminating patron of miniature painters and an inspired creator of gardens. Most importantly, he was a very serious mystical poet.
As the Indian rebellion of 1857 spread, the Indian regiments seized Delhi and acclaimed Zafar their nominal leader. Zafar was viewed as a figure who could unite all Indians, Hindu and Muslim alike, and someone who would be acceptable to the Indian princes as sovereign.
When the victory of the British became certain, Zafar took refuge at Humayun's Tomb, in an area that was then at the outskirts of Delhi, and hid there. British forces led by Major Hodson surrounded the tomb and compelled his surrender. Numerous male members of his family were killed by the British, who imprisoned or exiled the surviving members of the Mughal dynasty. Zafar himself was exiled to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) in 1858 along with his wife Zeenat Mahal and some of the remaining members of the family. His departure as Emperor marked the end of more than three centuries of Mughal rule in India.
The inscription on the reverse of the miniature suggests that this piece was owned by Mrs. Feilden. She was the wife of Colonel Henry Wemyss Feilden (1838-1921) an Arctic Explorer and Naturalist. He started his military career in campaigns in India. Rudyard Kipling, a friend and neighbour of Col. Feilden writes in his book The Very own house -something of myself, Chapter VII about the time when Feilden was outside Delhi during the Mutiny.
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