This illustration to the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) depicts the assassination of Bairam Khan by Afghans beside the lake at Patan, north-west India, in 1561. Bairam Khan was a general and friend of the emperor Humayun, father of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605). After Akbar inherited the throne at the age of 13 following his father’s sudden death, Bairam Khan guided the young emperor in the early years of his reign. By now, the youth and his former mentor had fallen out and Bairam Khan had been given leave to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. On the way, he was murdered by Afghans. His four-year old son, Abd'ur-Rahim, was later taken into the protection of Akbar and as an adult rose to become the highest-ranking noble of the Mughal hierarchy.
The designer of the composition of this painting was the court artist Tulsi, and Tiriyya painted the details.

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.