"Black Buck", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Manohar

recto: ca. 1615–20; verso: ca. 1530–50 · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper · Islamic Art

The squarish format of this painting of a black buck, attributed to the artist Manohar, required filling the extra space within the "window" of the border, adroitly accomplished with two leaves of poetry, possibly taken from a type of narrow oblong manuscript known as a safina. The lower page, signed by the Persian master Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi in the triangular box at the right, contains verse by the great poet Jami. Manohar painted several versions of this subject for the emperor, who mentions his fondness for his favorite decoy black buck in his memoirs.

Artist

Manohar

Date

recto: ca. 1615–20; verso: ca. 1530–50

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955