The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Vertically oriented painting with people with light skin tones out hunting in orange, green, and blue clothing against blotchy, black inked rock outcroppings. Upper center, two people ride in on horseback from our left, a falcon flapping their wings on the first's outstretched hand while two more people run out front. Lower, three others with horses, two mounted, one holding the reins, surround a person kneeling on the ground, pulling two birds apart.

Hunting with falcons in a landscape (recto)

c. 1558–60; borders added probably 1700s

attributed to Abd al-Samad

(Persian, c. 1510–1600)
Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Page: 35.7 x 24.3 cm (14 1/16 x 9 9/16 in.)
Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.292.a
Location: 242B Indian Painting

Did You Know?

The hunter’s glove is on the ground, as he pulls his falcon off the duck.

Description

Mughal princes hunted on horseback with falcons. The hunting party would ride out into the wild and flush the prey from the brush. Then, its hood removed, the falcon would chase the prey and bring it down.

This important work is thought to have been painted by one of the Persian artists Akbar’s father brought to India from Iran shortly after his arrival in India. The delicacy of the diminutive figures and the gently modeled rocks of the arid landscape contrast to the boldly dynamic paintings made by Indian artists.
  • ?–1929
    E. E. [Edward Earle] Meugens [1875–1929], Calcutta and England, by descent to J. R. Meugens
    1929–1969
    J. R. Meugens
    July 1, 1969
    (Sotheby’s, London, Important Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 1 July 1969, lot 80, sold to Ralph Benkaim)
    1969–2013
    Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2013–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain), and Arnold Talbot Wilson. Persian art: an illustrated souvenir of the exhibition of Persian art at Burlington house, London, 1931. [London]: Printed for the Executive Committee of the exhibition by Hudson & Kearns Ltd, 1931. Mentioned: cat. no. 631
    Wilson, Arnold Talbot. Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Persian Art; Partrons: His Majesty the King, His Majesty Rizā Shāh Pahlavi. 7th January to 28th February, 1931, Royal Academy of Arts, London. London: Office of the Exhibition [Printed by Gee & Co.], 1931. Mentioned: p. 250, no. 631
    Wilson, Arnold Talbot. Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Persian Art; Partrons: His Majesty the King, His Majesty Rizā Shāh Pahlavi. 7th January to 28th February, 1931, Royal Academy of Arts, London. London: Office of the Exhibition [Printed by Gee & Co.], 1931. Mentioned: p. 250, no. 631
    Welch, Stuart Cary, and Mark Zebrowski. A Flower from Every Meadow: Indian Paintings from American Collections. New York: Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1973. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 57, pp. 97-98
    Brand, Michael, and Glenn D. Lowry. Akbar's India: Art from the Mughal City of Victory. New York: Asia Society Galleries, 1985. Mentioned: cat. no. 69, p. 153; Reproduced: p. 105
    Datta, Rathin. The Legacy Continues... A history of Price Waterhouse, Lovelock & Lewes and PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. in India. Kolkata, India: Nandini Chatterjee of PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd, [no pub. date]. Mentioned: p. 11 www.pwc.in
    Beach, Milo Cleveland, Eberhard Fischer, B. N. Goswamy, and Jorrit Britschgi. Masters of Indian Painting. Zurich, Switzerland: Artibus Asiae Publishers, 2011. Reproduced: p. 109, fig. 11
    Mace, Sonya Rhie, Mohsen Ashtiany, Catherine Glynn, Pedro Moura Carvalho, Marcus Fraser, and Ruby Lal. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: the Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D Giles Limited, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 3, pp. 158, 160
  • Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).
    Masters of Indian Painting. Museum Rietberg, Zürich, Switzerland (organizer) (April 30-August 21, 2011); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (September 26, 2011-January 18, 2012).
    Akbar's India: Art from the Mughal City of Victory. Asia Society, New York, NY (October 10, 1985-January 5, 1986); Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA (January 24-March 16, 1986); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (April 19-June 15, 1986).
    A Flower From Every Meadow. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY; Center for Asian Art and Culture, San Francisco, CA; Albright-Know Gallery of Art, Buffalo, New York, NY (1973).
    The International Exhibition of Persian Art. Burlington House, London, UK (January 7-March 7, 1931).
  • {{cite web|title=Hunting with falcons in a landscape (recto)|url=false|author=Abd al-Samad|year=c. 1558–60; borders added probably 1700s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.292.a