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"Spotted Forktail", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Painting by Abu'l Hasan Indian
Calligrapher Mir 'Ali Haravi
recto: ca. 1610–15; verso ca. 1540
Not on view
Jahangir (r. 1605–27) ordered this portrait of a spotted forktail from Abu'l Hasan, the artist upon whom he bestowed the honorific title "Wonder of the Age." The inscription states that the emperor’s servants hunted this particular bird but does not say whether they killed it or merely captured it before it was portrayed. The silk ground adds a particular luster to the painting, further enhanced by the bird’s shiny eye, which contains glittering chips of a reflective material, probably mica.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: "Spotted Forktail", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
  • Artist: Painting by Abu'l Hasan (Indian, born ca. 1588/89, active 1600–1628)
  • Calligrapher: Mir 'Ali Haravi (died ca. 1550)
  • Date: recto: ca. 1610–15; verso ca. 1540
  • Geography: Attributed to India
  • Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on silk
  • Dimensions: H. 15 3/16 in. (38.6 cm)
    W. 10 3/8 in. (26.3 cm)
  • Classification: Codices
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955
  • Object Number: 55.121.10.15
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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Study of Saint John the Evangelist, After Albrecht Dürer , Abu'l Hasan Indian, Brush drawn ink on paper, India (Mughal court, probably at Allahabad)
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