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Lot Essay
Intricate studies of birds and other animals were popular in the Mughal courts in the 17th century and are a reflection of Jahangir’s enthusiasm for his court painters recording flora and fauna, Mughal studies of birds and animals favoured a detailed foreground. The sparing use of colour serves to draw focus to the central subject of the painting: the woodpecker.
Our painting closely resembles one sold in these Rooms 26 April 2012, Lot 13. That painting is attributed to Mansur, Jahangir’s most famed artist, but ours is more likely to have been completed by a follower of his school. Ours shares similar features with the bird perched in the foreground, a single building atop a hill behind. Even the spindly trees and birds in flight are of the same style. This suggests that ours drew heavily on that painting, simulating the same background and substituting the woodpecker for the vulture. A further example of a painting with the bird featured prominently in the foreground, the landscape pale in comparison, can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (55.121.10.16).
Our painting closely resembles one sold in these Rooms 26 April 2012, Lot 13. That painting is attributed to Mansur, Jahangir’s most famed artist, but ours is more likely to have been completed by a follower of his school. Ours shares similar features with the bird perched in the foreground, a single building atop a hill behind. Even the spindly trees and birds in flight are of the same style. This suggests that ours drew heavily on that painting, simulating the same background and substituting the woodpecker for the vulture. A further example of a painting with the bird featured prominently in the foreground, the landscape pale in comparison, can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (55.121.10.16).