AN INDIAN MINIATURE PAINTING OF SHAH JAHAN HUNTING DEER India, 19^th century. Ink, gouache, and gold on wasli. The scene depicts a hunt expedition in a green landscape, a richly adorned Shah Jahan, with a nimbus, shooting a matchlock gun to bring down a deer, accompanied by his huntsmen (shikaris) dressed in hunting green and hidden behind bushes. The surrounding vegetation is painted in great detail.

Provenance: From a South German private collection, assembled during the 1970s.
Condition: Excellent condition with traces of wear and age.

Dimensions: Sheet size 29.5 x 20.5 cm

Shah Jahan was the fifth Mughal emperor of India and reigned from 1628 to 1658. In Muslim India, hunting was favored as the royal activity par excellence, a pastime ripe with the symbolism of power.

Literature comparison: Compare a related painting of Shah Jahan hunting deer in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 2019.445.2.

Auction result comparison: Compare a related painting of Shah Jahan on a lion hunt, dated to the late 18^th century, at Christie’s London in Art of the Islamic and Indian World on 4 October 2012, lot 174, sold for GBP 3,250.