A full-length portrait of a seated man with a long pointed moustache wearing a turban, white robes and sash and slippers, with a medal on his chest.

Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy (1783-1859) was a Parsi merchant and philanthropist who made some of his wealth in the first decades of the nineteenth century through trading in cotton and the illegal export of opium from India to China. In 1842 he was knighted by Queen Victoria and in 1857 given a hereditary baronetcy; in both cases he was the first Indian subject to receive these honours. The medal Jeejeebhoy wears in this portrait was awarded to him in 1842 by the queen. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy has been described as 'the most famous Parsi of his time and perhaps the first famous non-European colonial subject' because of his honours and public charity (see Jesse S. Palsetia, “JEJEEBHOY, JAMSETJEE,” Encyclopædia Iranica, XIV/6, pp. 619-621 http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/jejeebhoy-jamsetjee).

In 1846 Jeejeebhoy gave four Arabian horses to the monarch and her husband Prince Albert; Victoria recorded in her journal on 16th March that she and Albert went to the riding school at Buckingham Palace where they were 'presented with 4 beautiful Arab horses, in magnificent Cashmere horse cloths & trappings, sent by Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. The horses were led round by Indians & their servants.'