This illustration to the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) depicts the fight that took place in 1567 between Wazir Khan and ‘Ali Quli Khan in order to free the captive Mughal noble Asaf Khan. Formerly loyal to the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605), Asaf Khan had rebelled and, with his brother Wazir Khan, joined another disloyal faction, headed by ‘Ali Quli Khan and Bahadur Khan. However, they became disaffected with this new alliance and tried to flee, but Asaf Khan was captured, shackled and put inside an elephant litter (seen in the foreground). Wazir Khan attacked the rebels and freed the captive. The overall composition of the painting was designed by the Mughal court artist Jagan, with the details being painted by Narayan, except for the most important portraits which, according to the contemporary inscriptions at the bottom of the page, were done by Madhav the Younger.

The Akbarnama was commissioned by Akbar as the official chronicle of his reign. It was written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abu’l Fazl, between 1590 and 1596, and the V&A’s partial copy of the manuscript is thought to have been illustrated between about 1592 and 1595. This is thought to be the earliest illustrated version of the text, and drew upon the expertise of some of the best royal artists of the time. Many of these are listed by Abu’l Fazl in the third volume of the text, the A’in-i Akbari, and some of these names appear in the V&A illustrations, written in red ink beneath the pictures, showing that this was a royal copy made for Akbar himself. After his death, the manuscript remained in the library of his son Jahangir, from whom it was inherited by Shah Jahan.

The V&A purchased the manuscript in 1896 from Frances Clarke, the widow of Major General John Clarke, who bought it in India while serving as Commissioner of Oudh between 1858 and 1862.