English: he subject of this picture, formerly in the Fullarton collection, is most likely the Armenian cloth-merchant Gregory (hence Gurghin Khan) who trained Nawab Mir Qasim's troops for their engagements with the British. Raymond, the translator of Ghulam Husayn's history, gives the following acount of him: 'Gurghin-qhan was a man born at Ispahan, the capital of Persia, and had a very remarkable physiognomy. He was above the ordinary size, strong built, with a very fair complexion, large black eyes, full of fire, an aquiline nose, forming a ridge in the middle of its length, and eyebrows very arched, that joined together, so as to form a point going downwards towards the nose . . .

Nothing was wanting to that man to render him capable of shining, even in Europe, but education; he owed everything to his own genius, and nothing to art or cultivation.'

(Husayn [1789] II, p.503fn).

English: Arts of Bengal (Whitechapel Art Gallery 30/12/1979-30/09/2011)

English: The painting is in the style of the Mughal provincial court painting, in particular Murshidabad school.