This is one of a group of about twenty-three drawings Rembrandt based on Indian miniatures, perhaps from his own collection. He seems to have been especially interested in costume accessories, such as the sultan's turban, that might prove useful in his biblical compositions. The subject is Muhammad Adil Shah, the ruler of Bijapur from 1627 until his death in 1656. This is one of two drawings from the series to be solely executed in pen and dark-brown ink, without any addition of black or gray wash shading to the figures or to the background (the second one being the Indian Lady, after a Mughal Miniature at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam). It is fitting that Rembrandt, would allow his artistic curiosity to lead him to a series of "exotic" Indian miniatures. They might have come to Rembrandt through his association with Abraham Wilmerdonts, Director of the Dutch V.O.C. (East India Company), whom he painted in 1642. At least twenty-three Rembrandt drawings after such miniatures survive, most of which carry the collector's mark of the  18th-century British artist and prominent drawing collector Jonathan Richardson Sr. (1665-1745). This example also carries the collector's mark of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). (F.R., 2025)