It was produced in Mughal Empire (India). Later V&A purchased it from Frances Clarke, who acquired it in India while serving as a commissioner of Oudh between 1858-62.
The painting "Akbar Receiving the Drums and Standards Captured from Abdullah Khan Uzbeg, Governor of Malwa, in 1564" is made by Mahesh (or Mohesh). It is an illustration from the Akbarnama and a significant example of Mughal manuscript painting that encodes political authority through carefully constructed visual symbolism. The painting bears a contemporary librarian's inscription in red ink beneath the image: "Tarh Mohesh / Amal Anant", meaning "composition by Mohesh / painting by Anant".
The painting depicts a pivotal event in Akbar's consolidation of imperial authority. Abdullah Khan Uzbeg had originally helped Akbar conquer Malwa, defeating its ruler Baz Bahadur around 1562, and was subsequently appointed governor of the province. However, in a pattern common among the Uzbeg nobility of the Mughal court, who adhered to the Chingizid tradition of shared sovereignty among elites, Abdullah Khan refused to send the required tribute to Akbar and asserted regional autonomy. On 6 August 1564, Akbar marched personally to Malwa along with Munim Khan to suppress the rebellion. Abdullah Khan Uzbeg was vanquished that same year.
In the composition, Akbar is shown seated on an elephant, a symbol of Mughal authority, as he receives captured drums and military standards from envoys. The elephant represents the emperor's divine right and power. The drums and standards, representing sovereignty, indicate the defeat of one ruler and the reaffirmation of another's authority. This presentation ritualises the transfer of power from the rebel governor to Akbar, signalling the nullification of Abdullah Khan Uzbeg’s claims and the reabsorption of sovereignty into the emperor.
More broadly, the painting illustrates how music and performance served as languages of victory and political legitimacy in the Mughal world. Musicians travelled with armies and royal courts. The captured drums in this painting symbolise how artistic and musical traditions followed changing political centres, growing, surviving, and transforming as they adapted to new patrons.
Stylistically, the painting exemplifies the characteristic synthesis of indigenous Indian, Persian, and Western traditions that defined Mughal painting under Akbar. The vibrant, saturated colour palette reflects Indian preferences for bold primary colours, while the vertical format and intricate patterning draw on Persian miniature conventions. European influences, particularly the rendering of spatial depth, had also entered the Mughal visual vocabulary through contact with Western missionaries in the late sixteenth century. The painting's relative scale of figures to the picture plane, larger than the Persian tradition favoured, demonstrates the Indian emphasis on the human form as the primary subject.
Akbar receiving the drums and standards captured from Abdullah Khan Uzbeg (described by Mohesh and painted by Anant) conveys something much more than the glory of a military conquest. It seems to make an important declaration about the power of the Mughal emperor. Drawn from the Akbarnama, this scene shows Akbar receiving the drums and standards from Abdullah Khan Uzbeg in the battle which was fought in 1564 after he had been defeated and revolted.
Warfare has been transformed to ceremony through the arrangement of the space. Akbar is seen to be seated above the scene upon a richly adorned elephant, accompanied by other figures in attendance, while the battleground below is a riot of soldiers, horses and elephants. The drums and standards that were captured are emblems of surrendered authority, and are displayed to show the conclusive nature of political power vested in the emperor alone. The image is remarkable for the way it juxtaposes the violent chaos of battle with the dignified, elevated presence of Akbar. The picture seems to me to be concerned more with the idea of "restoring an empire to order" rather than simply conquering. Even the elephant seems to bear insignia of the sovereign and strengthens the assertion of Akbar's sovereign power. This painting seems to imply that only truly sovereign can turn a success upon the battlefield into long lasting sovereignty.
