This illustration to the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) depicts the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) receiving the Iranian ambassador, Sayyid Beg, in 1562, during Akbar's seventh regnal year. Sayyid Beg was the cousin of Shah Tahmasp of Iran, being the son of the shah’s paternal uncle Ma’sum Beg. The emissary had been sent to convey the shah's condolences on the death of Akbar’s father, Humayun in 1556, and to congratulate the young ruler on his accession. Sayyid Beg brought ‘fiery Arabian steeds and fleet-footed Iranian and Anatolian horses and presents of precious textiles and rare objects’ [Wheeler M. Thackston, ed and translator, Abu’l-Fazl, The History of Akbar, Murty Classical Library of India, vol. 3 p. 246]. This is the right half of a double page designed by the Mughal court artist La’l. The left half (Museum no. IS.2:28-1896) shows the entourage of the ambassador bearing their gifts.

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.