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A pair of Brahminy ducks

Unknown

1804

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Early 19th Century Still Life Mughal

Dominant colour

A pair of Brahminy ducks is a 1804 unspecified by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, depicting Mughal, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1804 · Mughal Painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Two ducks stand side by side on a plain background, their orange feathers and white wing patches painted with tiny, careful strokes. This painting comes from the Mughal court in 16th-century India, where artists often worked from real animals kept in palace gardens. The ducks’ long legs and short bills are shown exactly as they appear in life, not from memory or imagination. To see more paintings like this, look up 16th century.

The story of this work

Overview

The Brahminy duck, also known as the ruddy shelduck, can be found throughout Southern Europe, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. This painting accurately depicts the orange coloring of Brahminy ducks and the patches of white on their wings. They are also recognizable by their long legs and short bills. The level of detail in realistic paintings of animals like this one suggests that Mughal artists studied live subjects, such as the waterfowl that lived in Mughal palace gardens.