Walters Ms. W.702, Single leaf of an elephant with mahout attacking four men

W.702

Single leaf of an elephant with mahout attacking four men

This Mughal painting depicts an elephant with a mahout attacking four men. Depictions of elephants became increasingly common in the Mughal period. Stylistically this example may be attributed to sometime in the late tenth century AH / sixteenth CE, although the Persian inscription on the page states that it was completed in Bukhārā on the last day of Ṣafar 731 AH / 1330 CE. There are a few numbers inscribed on the page: 4500, 9, and 18. The work is framed by marbled paper and a border illuminated with animal and floral motifs. On the back is a sample of calligraphy in nastaʿlīq script signed by Mīrzā Muḥammad al-Kātib and dated 983 AH / 1575-6 CE.

Late 10th century AH / 16th CE

India

As-written name: Mīrzā Muḥammad al-Kātib

Leaf

Historical

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

Paper

Mounted on pasteboard

Foliation: Not applicable

36.0 cm wide by 23.5 cm high

1. Image: 16.5 cm wide by 14.0 cm high

1. Title: Elephant with mahout attacking four men
2. Scribe: Mīrzā Muḥammad al-Kātib
3. Hand note: Written in shikasta script (front) and nastaʿlīq script (back)
4. Decoration note: Buff and salmon borders with illuminated bird, floral, and animal motifs; attributable to the late tenth century AH / sixteenth CE or eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE.

fol. W.702a:

1. 
2. Title: Elephant with mahout attacking four men
3. Form: Painting
4. Label: This Mughal painting depicts an elephant with a mahout attacking four men. Depictions of elephants became increasingly common in the Mughal period. Stylistically this example may be attributed to sometime in the late tenth century AH / sixteenth CE, although the Persian inscription on the page states that it was completed in Bukhārā on the last day of Ṣafar 731 AH / 1330 CE. There are a few numbers inscribed on the page: 4500, 9, and 18.

fol. W.702b:

1. 
2. Title: Elephant with mahout attacking four men (back)
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This is a sample of calligraphy in nastaʿlīq script signed by Mīrzā Muḥammad al-Kātib, dated 983 AH / 1575-6 CE.

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.