A watercolour, after a painting by Rudolph Swoboda (RCIN 403831), showing a bust-length portrait of Queen Victoria's Indian secretary Abdul Karim. The Munshi is shown facing left and is dressed in a traditional Indian suit and turban. Inscribed upper right: VR after R Swoboda 1889.

Abdul Karim entered Queen Victoria’s service as her personal Indian servant in 1887 and became her official Indian Secretary in 1888. The Queen gave Karim the title Munshi after he started teaching her Urdu and he soon became a close companion of the aging monarch. After Queen Victoria's death in 1901, Karim returned to India where he lived in Agra on land presented to him by Queen Victoria until his death in 1909.

The Swoboda portrait was commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1888.