MIR HASHIM (attributed to). Portrait of Commander 'Azim Khan. [Northwestern India, Rajasthan or Punjab, second half of the seventeenth century]. Refined portrait of 'Azim Khan, commander and dignitary of the Moghul court, depicted in mature age, sumptuously dressed with green overcoat decorated with golden floral motifs, red tunic dotted with gold and white turban. In his hands he holds a small open manuscript, on which two columns of writing are carefully drawn, an element that emphasizes the cultured and spiritual dimension of the character. 'Azim Khan, commander of the active Moghul army under Akbar and Jahangir, would in fact have joined at a late age the sufi order of the Chishtiyya. The miniature, on a gold background, has two Persian inscriptions in nasta'liq, perhaps added later: at the top of 'Azim Khan', character identification, and below 'Amal-e Mir Hashim' (Mir Hashim Opera). However, the attribution should be considered with caution, like the portrait of Jahangir from the same nucleus. On the verse are visible traces of Persian text in nasta'liq and of the rifling of the mise en page (mistara), clues of the reuse of a manuscript sheet. The work is an interesting example of the interpenetration between the Moghul pictorial tradition and the developments of the Rajput schools in the second half of the seventeenth century and probably belonged to an album of portraits, later re-composed into decorative frames. Miniature on paper (255 × 330 mm) within a paper frame decorated with golden floral and vegetable motifs, probably from the late 18th century. Some holes of tarlo and minimal signs of time, overall in good condition. Origin: same origin as the previous portrait of Emperor Jahangir. (1)