Prince Jawan Bakht was the eldest son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam, who visited Lucknow in 1784 to ask for Warren Hastings' help in securing the release of his father from the Marathas. Hastings wrote that he found the Prince 'gentle, lively, possessed of a high sense of humour, of a sounding judgement, an uncommonly quick penetration, and a well-cultivated understanding, with a spirit of resignation and an equality of temper almost exceeding any within reach of my own knowledge or recollection'.

This portrait of Jawan Bakht is after an oil painting by the artist Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) who met the Mughal prince in Lucknow in 1784, a meeting arranged by Hastings. (see Johan Zoffany RA: Society Observed (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy, London, 2012, no. 85, pg. 269). The original painting was initially incorrectly identified as by the Scottish artist Charles Smith. (see M. Archer, India and British Portraiture 1770-1825, Oxford, 1979, pg. 181, pl. 111.)

As a result of another prominent English portrait artist, Tilly Kettle's work in Oudh from 1771 to 1773, it became the fashion for local artists to copy European portraits.

For a comparable portrait, which sold at auction, see Christie’s London, 'West ~ East - The Niall Hobhouse Collection', 22 May 2008, lot 60.