This is the left half of a double page illustration designed by the Mughal court artist La’l and painted by Ibrahim Kahar for the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar). It depicts the arrival of the Iranian ambassador, Sayyid Beg, in 1562 at the royal court in Agra of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605). This page shows the entourage of the ambassador bearing the gifts sent by Shah Tahmasp of Iran. The other side of the composition ( IS.2:27-1896) depicts Akbar enthroned, receiving the ambassador.

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.