Lot Essay
The inscription, copying the handwriting of Jahangir, reads: Picture of 'Alam-guman Gajraj, whose value is a hundred thousand rupees.
There is a less formal portrait on cloth of the same elephant with his calves (circa 1614) in the National Museum of India, New Delhi (Welch 1963, pl.36).
Elephants were an important arm of the Mughal army. Both Akbar and Jahangir pursued the wild elephant which was then trained to captivity and to its military functions. Some of the royal elephants are mentioned by name in the memoirs of Jahangir. One lakh, that is one hundred thousand, rupees is not a surprising value since Jahangir mentions elsewhere an elephant presented to him by his son, Prince Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, in 1619 and valued at 80,000 rupees (ibid. vol.II, p.79f.).
In 1614 'Alam-guman and other elephants were owned by the Rana of Mewar who was rebelling against the emperor. They were captured by Prince Khurram in his victorious campaign against the Rana; and at the New Year festivities 'Alam-guman with seventeen other male and female elephants was paraded before the emperor. The following day Jahangir rode the famous elephant scattering money among the crowd (ibid. vol.I, p.259f.).
McCraig, H.: 'The Elephant in Indian Art', The Times of India Annual, 1962, p.54.
Rogers, A.(transl.): The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, The Memoirs of Jahangir, London 1914
Welch, S.C.: Mughal India: Paintings & Precious Objects, Catalogue of an Exhibition shown in the Galleries of Asia House in the Winter of 1964, New York 1963
Welch, S.C.: The Art of Mughal India, Asia House Gallery, New York 1975.
There is a less formal portrait on cloth of the same elephant with his calves (circa 1614) in the National Museum of India, New Delhi (Welch 1963, pl.36).
Elephants were an important arm of the Mughal army. Both Akbar and Jahangir pursued the wild elephant which was then trained to captivity and to its military functions. Some of the royal elephants are mentioned by name in the memoirs of Jahangir. One lakh, that is one hundred thousand, rupees is not a surprising value since Jahangir mentions elsewhere an elephant presented to him by his son, Prince Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, in 1619 and valued at 80,000 rupees (ibid. vol.II, p.79f.).
In 1614 'Alam-guman and other elephants were owned by the Rana of Mewar who was rebelling against the emperor. They were captured by Prince Khurram in his victorious campaign against the Rana; and at the New Year festivities 'Alam-guman with seventeen other male and female elephants was paraded before the emperor. The following day Jahangir rode the famous elephant scattering money among the crowd (ibid. vol.I, p.259f.).
McCraig, H.: 'The Elephant in Indian Art', The Times of India Annual, 1962, p.54.
Rogers, A.(transl.): The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, The Memoirs of Jahangir, London 1914
Welch, S.C.: Mughal India: Paintings & Precious Objects, Catalogue of an Exhibition shown in the Galleries of Asia House in the Winter of 1964, New York 1963
Welch, S.C.: The Art of Mughal India, Asia House Gallery, New York 1975.