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"Red-Headed Vulture and Long-Billed Vulture", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Painting by Mansur
Calligrapher Mir 'Ali Haravi
verso: ca. 1615–20; recto: ca. 1535–45
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 463
The artist Mansur became such a master in painting flora and fauna that he received the title nadir al-'asr, "rare one of the age." Ornithologically accurate, the vultures as revealed by the brush of Mansur are far more than avian specimens. His masterful hand is evident in the subtle gradations of sooty hues and pearly beige and gray shades of the feathers. The sketchy rock suggestive of ground plane and the linear outline of the half-toned rock are not an actual habitat but a plausible setting out of the artist’s imagination.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: "Red-Headed Vulture and Long-Billed Vulture", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
  • Artist: Painting by Mansur (active ca. 1589–1626)
  • Calligrapher: Mir 'Ali Haravi (died ca. 1550)
  • Date: verso: ca. 1615–20; recto: ca. 1535–45
  • Geography: Attributed to India
  • Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
  • Dimensions: H. 15 3/8 in. (39.1 cm)
    W. 10 1/16 in. (25.6 cm)
  • Classification: Codices
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955
  • Object Number: 55.121.10.12
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
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"Study of a Nilgai (Blue Bull)", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album, Mansur, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
"Study of a Nilgai (Blue Bull)", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
Mansur
Mir 'Ali Haravi
verso: ca. 1620; recto ca. 1540
"Great Hornbill", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album, Mansur, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
"Great Hornbill", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
Mansur
Mir 'Ali Haravi
recto: ca. 1540; verso: ca. 1615–20
"Diving Dipper and Other Birds", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album, Mansur, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
"Diving Dipper and Other Birds", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
Mansur
recto: ca. 1610–15; verso: ca. 1535–45
Chameleon, Mansur, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, India (Mughal court at Lahore or Allahabad)
Returned to lender
Chameleon
Mansur
ca. 1595–1600
Peafowl, Mansur, Opaque watercolor on paper, India (Mughal court at Agra)
Returned to lender
Peafowl
Mansur
ca. 1610

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