A portrait of Zib al-Nisa', Begum Samru (1751-1836), after Jiwan Ram, India, 19th century

A number of portraits of Begum Samru are known in several different media, including oil on canvas, gouache on paper, and pigments on ivory. This divergence in media is balanced by their formal similarities, with all examples, including the present oil on canvas, likely based on an oil on canvas portrait sold at Christie's London, 12 June 2014, lot 174. The medium, measurements and background of that painting match a series of portraits painted by the Meerut-based artist Jiwan Ram for Begum Samru circa 1830, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (inv. nos LP 837-9, 841, 845-8), and can therefore be attributed to the artist. Jiwan Ram appears to have based his portrait on a small watercolour attributed to the Delhi painter Lallji painted in 1812 (Losty and Roy 2012, p.207).