Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah (1614-74) on Horseback (c. 1635): Art, History and Details

Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah (1614-74) on Horseback (c. 1635) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah came to the throne of Golconda at the age of twelve and ruled until 1635 when the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan invaded the Deccan. Although Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah kept his position, he did so under conditions named by Shah Jahan that included the payment of tribute money, conversion to Sunni Islam, and the presence of a Mughal political agent at the Golconda court. In this watercolor portrait, executed with subdued colors that complement the gold accents, the young Sultan wears a diaphanous shawl over his richly embroidered robe. His horse is almost as lavishly dressed in decorative trappings and jewels as his rider.

Object facts

• Title: Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah (1614-74) on Horseback
• Date: c. 1635
• Culture: Southern India, Golconda
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Ink, watercolor, and gold on paper, mounted with gold-sprinkled borders
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2013.287

A detail from the museum

Specks of gold are sprinkled around the edges of this portrait.

Collection credit

Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.