{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1808225"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1808225/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PK4891/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PK4891/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PK4891","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PK4892","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1808225/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1808225","accessionNumber":"E.996-2025","objectType":"Miniature","titles":[{"title":"Abdul Khaliq Sultan (1782-1806)","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Abdul Khaliq (1782-1806), the eldest legitimate son of Tipu Sultan, sat for the British miniaturist John Smart on 8 August 1792, during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Earlier that year, Abdul Khaliq and his younger brother, Muiz ud-Din, had been taken into the custody of Lord Cornwallis, then Governor-General of India. Cornwallis was negotiating control of Mysore’s territories and held the princes hostage as leverage to enforce Tipu Sultan’s compliance with the agreed financial settlement. Smart's portraits of the boys were sent to Tipu, likely intended to demonstrate the princes’ humane treatment under British care, thereby fostering more favourable sentiments towards the British in the hope of averting future conflict.\r\n\r\nThis portrait was presumed lost until its rediscovery in a private collection in 2023; previously, only a set of finished drawings at the British Museum were known to have survived. It is likely that Smart made multiple versions of the portraits to be distributed amongst acquaintances of the princes in Madras alongside those sent to Tipu, who received finished versions of the portraits. Though its intended recipient is no longer known, the unfinished state of this miniature offers a striking contrast between Abdul Khaliq’s sensitively rendered facial features and vibrant red turban against the pale, unfinished ivory ground. It is one of Smart’s rare portraits of Indian children, another being the portrait drawing of Abdul Ali Khan (E.995-2025), grandson of Muhammad Ali Khan, Nawab of the Carnatic (1717-1795), which was acquired by the V&A alongside this miniature from the same collection. ","physicalDescription":"Unfinished portrait of Abdul Khaliq Sultan wearing a red turban, painted with watercolour on ivory, in a metal locket with inscription on the reverse.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Smart, John","id":"A2394"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on ivory","categories":[{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Children and childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Colonialism and empire","id":"THES253004"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2025PK4891","2025PK4892"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"CNPT","id":"THES49203"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Chennai","id":"x31964"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1792-1795","earliest":"1792-01-01","latest":"1795-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with funds from the Hugh Phillips Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"75","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"55","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Abdool Khalick Second Son of Tippoo Sultaun [sic] Drawn by J Smart","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed on card on reverse"}],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Weiss Gallery in 2025. Previously Lt.-Col Hubert Oliver Browne-Mason (1872-1930), Royal Army Medical Corps, British Indian Army, Cheltenham; thence by descent, until 2023, when bequeathed to a private collection, England, and via probate to Hannam's Auctioneers, Selborne, on 3 May 2023, where purchased by Weiss Gallery.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Portrait miniature, Abdul Khaliq Sultan (1782-1806), 'The Mysorean Hostage Prince' and eldest legitimate son of Tipu Sultan, by John Smart, ca. 1792, watercolour on ivory.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. <i>The Portrait Miniature: A New History</i>. London: Thames & Hudson and the V&A, 2026.","id":"AUTH411474"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Thomas Twining, <i>Travels in India</i>, London (1893), p. 66."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Daphne Foskett, <i>John Smart: The Man and his Miniatures,</i> London (1964), p. 18."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"William Foster, 'British Artists in India 1760-1820,' <i>The Walpole Society</i> 19 (1930-1931): p. 71."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Stephen Lloyd and Kim Sloan, <i>The Intimate Portrait</i>, London: British Museum and National Galleries Scotland (2008): nos. 153-154 and p. 210-211."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Abdul Khaliq Sultan","id":"AUTH411476"}],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Tipu Sultan","id":"N948"},{"text":"Cornwallis Lord","id":"C3602"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Third Anglo Mysore war (1789-1792)","id":"V799"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.996-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"996","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-22","recordCreationDate":"2025-08-27","availableToBook":false}}