A rare miniature portrait of 17th century Mughal emperor Shahjahan, bought by a dealer for £881 at Sotheby’s last year, has fetched him many times more, a whopping £5,74,250, at another auction house. The tiny portrait of the Mughal emperor had been in a collection at a country house in Lincolnshire since the 19th century and was auctioned at Sotheby’s saleroom last October at Olympia, West London, where the staff failed to recognise its significance. Among items from Fulbeck Hall, the home of the Fane family, it was included in a lot of 19 items for which an unnamed dealer paid £ 881. Sotheby’s said the miniature, one of the only four known miniatures of Shahjahan, was bought in a lot. It was then valued between £ 40,000-60,000. The miniature outdid expectations and was sold for £ 5,74,250 yesterday.
