Ustad Haji Mohammad Sharif was one of the last great court-trained miniaturists of North India and Pakistan. Born in the princely state of Patiala, he came from a long line of painters whose ancestors had migrated from Afghanistan to Lahore and later to Patiala in search of royal patronage. His grandfather, Allah Ditta, and his father, Basharatullah, were both miniature painters, though it was widely acknowledged that Sharif surpassed them in the refinement of line and control of colour. The family initially wanted him to become a watchmaker, but the Maharaja of Patiala intervened, granting him a stipend so he could be trained in the hereditary art. By 1906 he...