MUGHAL INDIA, LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The painting depicts the Mughal Emperor Jahangir with a raised sword about to strike as a lioness attempts to climb into their howdah atop an elephant. The two accompanying courtiers have been identified as Mahabbat Khan on the right, a close friend and minister of Jahangir, and Raja Karan Singh on the left, a Rajput prince from Udaipur. Jahangir is famed for his passion for hunting. In his memoirs, he mentions several hunting incidences and the subject illustrated here is probably an illustration of one of those. For further discussion on this hunting incident and related scenes depicted in Mughal painting, see Haase, Kröger and Lienert, 1993, no.192b, pp.281-282.

Two illustrations of Jahangir on a lion hunt produced by the Mughal artist Farrukh Chela were sold at Christie’s, London, 18 December 1968, lot 76. For another depiction of Jahangir hunting, see Christie’s, London, 8 April 2008, lot 297.