The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Princes hunting in a rocky landscape

c. 1580–85; borders added c. 1700s

India, Mughal, 16th century

Ink, slight color, and gold on paper
Image: 26.4 x 15.8 cm (10 3/8 x 6 1/4 in.); Overall: 40.5 x 26 cm (15 15/16 x 10 1/4 in.)
Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1940.1197
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

A hunter with gunpowder pouch hurriedly loads a musket with a scouring stick.

Description

The subdued palette of this tinted drawing belies the dire events of the scene. A group of Mughal nobles out hunting with falcons has chanced upon two lions in the wilderness, and one of the men has been attacked. The bearded figure with the falcon at the upper left and the huntsman about to retrieve a duck caught by one of the trained falcons at the lower left are reminiscent of an earlier work, Hunting with Falcons in a Landscape (CMA 2013.292), painted by a Persian artist. By the time this painting was made Akbar exerted more direct influence on his artists’ work, and it reveals his taste for dramatic action and climactic moments where life and death hang in the balance.
  • ?–1940
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1940–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Hollis, Howard. "Lion Hunt." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 28, no. 10 (December 1941): 149–151. Reproduced: p. 146; Mentioned: p. 149 www.jstor.org
    Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 11
    Barañano, Kosme de, Valerio Adami, and Amelia Valtolina. De forma cerrada: Una biographia del dibujo. Valencia [Meina, Italy]: Institute Valencia d'Art Modern; Fondazione europea del disegno, 2002. Reproduced: p. 45
  • Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 20-August 18, 2004).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 4-August 5, 2003).
  • {{cite web|title=Princes hunting in a rocky landscape|url=false|author=|year=c. 1580–85; borders added c. 1700s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1940.1197