"Diving Dipper and Other Birds", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
Mansur
recto: ca. 1610–15; verso: ca. 1535–45 · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper · Islamic Art
Frequently praised in Jahangir’s memoirs, the artist Mansur painted many of the natural wonders the emperor saw during his travels. Jahangir wrote of his discovery of the Diving Dipper: "I ordered them to catch two or three of these birds, that I might ascertain whether they were waterfowl and were web-footed, or had open feet like land birds. They caught two . . . One died immediately, and the other lived for a day. Its feet were not webbed like a duck’s. I ordered [nadir al-asr] Ustad Mansur to draw its likeness."
- Artist
- Mansur
- Date
- recto: ca. 1610–15; verso: ca. 1535–45
- Medium
- Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
- Department
- Islamic Art
- Credit line
- Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955
