PORTRAIT OF ALI MUHAMMAD BAIG

Artist: Solomon Alexander Hart R.A.
Oil on board
1253 AH/ 1837 CE (Sultanate of Oman and Zanzibar)

This painting records an extraordinary moment in the Omani–Anglorelations. It shows AliMuhammad Baig, a Persian groom, who was dispatched to England by Sultan Sayyid Said bin Sultan al-Busaidi, Sultan of Oman and Zanzibar, to accompany his gift of pure Arabian horses to King William IV, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover. The gift was probably made in 1249 AH/1833 CE when Captain Cogan brought the largest of the Sultan’s ships, the Liverpool, to Britain as a present for the King. S.A. Hart was a respected and successful British artist of the 19th century CE, in 1256 AH/1840 CE he was accepted as a member of the Royal Academy, where this painting had been exhibited three years earlier.

Portrait of Sir Sayyid `Ali bin Salim al-Busa`idi

Unknown painter (United Kingdom) Oil on canvas c.1336 AH/1918 CE (Sultanate of Zanzibar)