Attributed to the great Mughal painter Miskin (active late 1570s-circa 1604), this nim qalam (half-pen) lightly tinted drawing likely depicts Prince Salim (the future Emperor Jahangir, r. 1605-1627). Pratapaditya Pal (1993) has suggested that this folio may be from a Shikarnama (Hunting Album) prepared for Salim (see also M.83.137). Salim rests in a rocky landscape teaming with wildlife while he observes a dying or dead Saluki dog, perhaps injured in the hunt. His richly caparisoned steed waits beside him. A retainer hands him a bow and arrows. The remainder of the composition consists of genre scenes. In the left foreground, two European scholars converse while a young acolyte listens. In the right foreground, a man prepares kindling for his campfire. In the upper right corner, a group of Hindu ascetics sits outside of a temple and cave, while another mendicant climbs the stairs to a small shrine. There is a sprawling city in the hazy distance. In the upper left corner, a herd of antelope graze in a field below a mountain shrine.
This folio has been remounted within an elaborate gilded border with flowering vines festooned with the heads of fantastic beasts. It was originally part of a Farhang-i Jahangiri, a dictionary presented to Jahangir in 1608 (see M.73.5.535–.537). The Persian inscription along the left margin pertains to the dictionary, not to the drawing.
For a somewhat rote copy of this drawing attributed to the 19th century, see M.72.83.1.
