The portrait of Asaf-ud-Daula is after a painting by the renowned German artist Johann Zoffany (1733-1810), completed in 1784 and now in the India Office Library (see M. Archer, India and British Portraiture 1770-1825, Oxford, 1979, no. 89, p. 147).

Zoffany went to India in 1783 in search of lucrative commissions from the new wealthy merchant class. He took with him a letter of introduction to Warren Hastings in which Lord Macartney describes him as 'the greatest painter that ever visited India'. On his arrival in Madras, he found himself inundated with commissions and stayed in India for over five years, dividing his time between Calcutta and Lucknow.

Asaf-Ud-Daula was the fourth Nawab in a dynasty of eleven rulers who held power from 1720 to 1856. His accession brought great change to Awadh politics. He moved the court of Awadh from Faizabad to Lucknow in 1775. With the move of the court to Lucknow the city grew rapidly in and around the existing town to accommodate the influx of people. There emerged a powerful Shia culture, in constant interaction with the Shia heartlands of Iran and Iraq. The increasing number of Shia emigrants from Iranian cities transformed Lucknow into a great intellectual centre. However during his reign, Awadh’s autonomy was severely reduced as a result of British political and military influences.