Tulsi
Akbar assists in capturing a cheetah
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Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
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- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
This painting from the history of the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar (the Akbarnama) depicts the first time the emperor watched the capture of cheetahs, to be tamed and thereafter used in hunting. Abu'l Fazl, the author of the history, notes that the capture of cheetahs was the most remarkable of all the arts of the hunt in Hindustan: the animals had to be lured into specially dug pits in such a way that they were not injured.
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The Akbarnama was commissioned by the emperor as the official chronicle of his reign. It was written by his court historian and biographer Abu'l Fazl between 1590 and 1596 and is thought to have been illustrated between c. 1592 and 1594 by at least forty-nine different artists in the royal ketabkhana, or House of Books. After Akbar's death in 1605, the manuscript remained in the library of his son, Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and later Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658). The Victoria and Albert Museum purchased it in 1896 from the widow of Major General John Clarke, an official who had been the Commissioner in Oudh province between 1858 and 1862.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- IS.2:2-1896
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
