Bonhams 1793 : Abdur Rahman Chughtai (Pakistan, 1897-1975) Untitled,

Provenance:
Formerly in the private collection of Dr S. M. Ikram, Pakistan: acquired directly from the artist and thence by descent. This work currently forms part of the private collection of Javed and Shabnam Jabbar.

Dr S. M. Ikram was a senior CSP (Civil Service of Pakistan) officer who held several important positions in various branches of the Pakistani government, including on the Revenue Board. He was a well-respected academic who wrote several publications in Urdu on Islamic history such as the trilogy Aab-e-Kausar, Mauj-e-Kausar, and Raud-e-Kausar. In English, he wrote Modern Muslim India and the Birth of Pakistan.

This work was subsequently passed to his sister-in-law, Mrs Zinat Rashid Ahmed, founder of the Pakistan Federation of University Women (PFUW) and one of original co-founders, with Begum Rana Liaqaut Ali Khan, of The All Pakistan Women's Association (APWA).

She made a pioneering contribution to education and women's development in Pakistan for which she received the Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam and the Tamgha-e-Khidmat. She was a founder of Karachi College for Women and a co-founder of APWA College for Women, Karachi. She served as Principal of Government College for Women, Karachi and governor of Sir Syed College.

She read English at Cambridge University and knew Indira Gandhi well, her contemporary at Oxford University. Although she came from a conservative Muslim background, her liberal father allowed her to travel to India and study dance under Ram Gopal. She later married Rashid Ahmed who was a friend of Amrita Sher-Gil during the artist's time in Lahore.