This painting of Prince Salim (the future Emperor Jahangir, r. 1605-1627) has been attributed to the Mughal artist Manohar by Sheila Canby (LACMA Member’s Calendar 21:10, October 1983). It was originally part of a Shikarnama (Hunting Album) prepared for Salim during his rebellion from his father Emperor Akbar (r. 1605-1627), when he established an independent court at Allahabad in 1600-1604. Folios from this now-dispersed manuscript, which share uniform stylistic and compositional characteristics, are now in Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (50.1), Cleveland Museum of Art (1939.66), Indian Museum, Kolkata (R13029/S.160), San Diego Museum of Art (1990:316), and the Keir Collection. See also M.84.32.7.
Recto: Salim sits in a howdah on an elephant with a rifle cradled against his left shoulder. He gestures with his right hand extended towards a large retainer, who seems to be presenting him with a baby rhinoceros whose mother had just been shot. A dead antelope lies nearby. In the background, there are two scenes of cheetahs hunting prey and various servants engaged in the hunt.
The peach-colored inner border, added later, is erroneously inscribed with the name of Shah Jahan.
Verso: A page of calligraphy featuring a quatrain of Persian poetry composed by Muhammad Nasir al-Munshi:
O Beloved
O your magnanimity is like a roof from the corner of which nine firmaments hang like candles. On the battlefield your sword overthrows an elephant like a pawn.
(Translation by Z. Faridany-Akhavan.)
