INDIA, MUGHAL, CIRCA 1625-1640

Details

A Tethered Buck
India, Mughal, circa 1625-1640
Very finely painted with the furry underside of the buck in white and with delicate strokes of hairs in shades of brown, the head with twisting horns, one of which broken off and with white patches of fur around eye, mouth and ears, the eye with dark brown pupil, the figure standing in a brown field harnessed by a red cord with flowers in the foreground and a blue sky streaked pink above, the painting mounted in 18th century Deccani album leaf with a red floral spray flanked by geese and butterflies
116 x 8½ 1n. (19.8 x 15.3 cm.)

Provenance

Bibliotheca Philippica, from the collection of Sir Thomas Philipps Bt. (1792-1872), Sold at Sotheby's London, 26 November 1968, lot 278

Exhibited

Previously on loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1972-1974

Lot Essay

Cf. Victoria and Albert Museum, Indian Art, 1969, fig. 34 of an attendant leading a black buck signed by the artist Manohar for a very similar rendering of the tethered buck. Manohar and Mansur were two of the court painters in Jehangir's atelier who were renowned for their animal studies. When Shah Jahan ascended to the throne in 1627, the imperial workshops continued to document the exotic flora and fauna of the realm with painters striving for the delicate naturalism exemplified by these artisans coupled with a greater attention to detail and ornamentation.
For further discussion of the black buck paintings in the Mughal era, see L. Leach, Mughal & Other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, 1995, vol. 1, no. 3.73.

More from Indian and Southeast Asian including 20th Century

View All