Zain Khan Koka
1550
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1550
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Zain Khan Koka is a 1550 paint by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a man with a serious expression. He's dressed in fancy clothes and has a sword at his side. What's interesting is that this man, Zain Khan Koka, had a close relationship with the Mughal emperor Akbar, whose son married Zain Khan's daughter. You can learn more about this style of painting at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The portrait depicts Zain Khan Koka, foster brother of Mughal emperor Akbar, shown in opaque watercolour and gold on paper against a green background. Painted around 1550, it was likely commissioned by Akbar as part of a series of portraits of his inner circle. The work later passed to Akbar’s son Jahangir, whose handwriting appears in the inscription identifying the subject. It remained in private collections, including those of Warren Hastings and Captain E. G. Spencer-Churchill, before being acquired by a museum in 1965.
Read the full account in the museum source.
