Mir Ja'far and Miran

This painting depicts Mir Ja'far 'Ali Khan hawking with his son Miran, and was probably done in Bihar in 1759 or 1760. It is signed as the work of Purannath, whose honorific name was Hunhar, an artist in service to the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (r. 1719-1748). Hunhar's brother Nidhamal also worked for the emperor, and both were described as 'khanazad', or 'house-born', implying that their father was also an artist. Hunhar seems to have accompanied the Mughal prince Ali Gauhar, the heir apparent, on an expedition to the eastern provinces of the rapidly disintegrating Mughal empire, and painted this study which he signed just in front of Mir Ja'afar's horse's foreleg.