Akbar supervising the capture of wild elephants at Malwa in 1564, painting 90 from an Akbar-nama (Book of Akbar) of Abu’l Fazl (Indian 1551–1602)
1704
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1704
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Akbar supervising the capture of wild elephants at Malwa in 1564, painting 90 from an Akbar-nama (Book of Akbar) of Abu’l Fazl (Indian 1551–1602) is a 1704 unspecified by Farukh Chela, a Mughal Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a busy scene: men on horseback, wild elephants running, and a ruler watching from the left. This painting comes from a book about Emperor Akbar’s life. It shows how the Mughals caught wild elephants—using trained ones to chase and calm them. The tiny details, like the riders’ clothes and the elephants’ tusks, tell the story without words. To see more like this, look up mughal india, indian art.
This painting is from a biography of Akbar made shortly before his death. It depicts a historical event from early in his reign when he encountered a herd of wild elephants and captured many of them for his royal stables. Akbar rides horseback in the upper left, directing his men as two trained elephants give chase in the foreground. The Mughals caught wild elephants by chasing them with tame elephants, then tethering them together and feeding them their favorite food. European prints had made their way into Akbar’s collection, and they provided the visual source for distant cityscapes,…
A yak-tail flywhisk, ancient Indian symbol of sovereignty, is held up for Akbar.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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