Two Camels Fighting

Unknown

late 16th–early 17th century · Ink, watercolor, and gold on paper · Islamic Art

The depiction of two camels fighting has a long history in Iranian art, stretching back to pre-Islamic times, and was popular in Persian and Mughal painting from the late fifteenth century onward. In this drawing, a man in a cap with a large feather tries to separate one camel from the other. Both camels are draped with ornate saddle blankets, one of which is decorated with two simurghs, phoenix-like birds, in clouds and the other with an elephant and its keeper and a falconer in a landscape. The tiny heads of two men are visible in the rocks as if they have just happened upon this scene.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 16th–early 17th century

Medium

Ink, watercolor, and gold on paper

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Bequest of George D. Pratt, 1935