A large portrait of Muhammad Azam Shah (r. 14 March 1707 - 8 June 1707), Kishangargh school, early 19th century, gouache on paper, on a gold flecked album page with five lines of black nastaliq Persian to reverse and below five lines of devangari...

A large portrait of Muhammad Azam Shah (r. 14 March 1707 - 8 June 1707), Kishangargh school, early 19th century, gouache on paper, on a gold flecked album page with five lines of black nastaliq Persian to reverse and below five lines of devangari script, 46.1 x 29.8cm. Provenance: Private collection, Switzerland Note: The inscription is a reference to Muhammad Azam Shah, the son of Aurangzeb. It mentions soldiers being sent by Aurangzeb to support a campaign led by Azam Shah in the Deccan which may be a reference to the Siege of Bijapur in 1685. Qutb-ud-Din Muhammad Azam (28 June 1653 – 8 June 1707), commonly known as Azam Shah, was a titular Mughal emperor, who reigned from 14 March 1707 to 8 June 1707. He was the eldest son of the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort Dilras Banu Begum. Azam was appointed as the heir-apparent (Shahi Ali Jah) to his father on 12 August 1681 and retained that position until Aurangzeb's death. During his long military career, he served as the viceroy of Berar Subah, Malwa, Bengal, Gujarat and the Deccan. Azam ascended the Mughal throne in Ahmednagar upon the death of his father on 14 March 1707. However, he and his three sons, Sultan Bidar Bakht, Shahzada Jawan Bakht Bahadur and Shahzada Sikandar Shan Bahadur, were later defeated and killed by Azam Shah's older half-brother, Prince Shah Alam (later crowned as Bahadur Shah I), during the Battle of Jajau on 8 June 1707