Head and shoulders portrait of Sultan Kaikhusrau Jahan, Begum of Bhopal, facing slightly to the left, wearing the robes and insignia of the Order of the Star of India; she sports an elaborately chased gold headdress, looped at the front with pearls, and surmounted by a white plume

Sultan Kaikhusrau Jahan, Begum of Bhopal (1858-1930) ruled the Indian state of Bhopal, now part of Madhya Pradesh, from 1901 to 1926. She was the only surviving child of Nawab Sultan Shah Jahan Begum Sahiba by her first husband, General Nasir ud-Daula, Nawab Baqi Muhammad Khan Bahadur. Among her achievements as a progressive and reforming leader, are the founding of educational institutions and the introduction of free compulsory primary education, in 1918. She overhauled taxation, the army, the police, the judiciary and prisons, expanded agriculture, and improved public sanitation and health by means of widespread inoculation and vaccination programmes. She attended the Coronation of George V and Queen Mary at Westminster Abbey in 1911, and among her many awards and titles, Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India was conferred in 1910.

A pair with the portrait of the sitter's mother (RCIN 403695); both are probably after photographs. A label for the frame maker and dealer, A.J Mucklow & Son appears on the reverse of the painting.