Risaldar-Major Ali Muhammad Khan was an Imperial Service Officer. He had been appointed the Commander of a risala (mounted troop), in 1895. He was one of many Indian soldiers who came to England for the Diamond Jubilee in1897. Here he is shown in uniform and his badges include the Egypt medal 1882-9 and, what may be the Khedive’s Egypt Star.

Rudolf Swoboda was born in Vienna in 1859 and studied under his uncle Leopold Carl Müller between 1878 and 1884. It was from Müller that Swoboda developed an interest in Orientalist art, cemented by a visit to see his uncle in Egypt in 1879. This marked the first of six visits made by the artist to Egypt between 1880 and 1891.

Signed on the back of the panel: R. Swoboda.