Stenciled Scenes of Lion and Gazelle (verso)

Stenciled Scenes of Lion and Gazelle (verso) was created in 1710 within the Mughal Empire, according to its documented inception date and place of production. The work is classified as a painting and is now held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is catalogued under the accession reference 2013.337.b. The sources do not record specific details about the original commission, prior ownership, or chain of custody prior to the work's acquisition by the museum.

The painting's creation is attributed to an unknown artist, and no further information regarding the circumstances of its making, patronage, or transfer history is available in the provided documentation.

The painting is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. It was acquired in 2013 under the accession number 2013.337.b. The work was exhibited in the museum's 2013 exhibition titled "Indian Miniatures: 16th–19th Century" before being rehung in the contemporary art wing in 2018.

The verso of the work Stenciled Scenes of Lion and Gazelle bears an inscription dated 1710, situating its creation within the Mughal imperial period and establishing it as a painting of that era. The piece is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, which documents its provenance and physical presence in a modern institutional context. Its artistic classification as a painting from 1710 aligns with broader scholarly interest in early modern visual culture of South Asia, though the attribution remains to an unknown hand, reflecting ongoing debates about authorship in works from this transitional artistic milieu.

The work contributes to understanding the circulation of stenciled imagery and narrative motifs in Mughal artistic production, linking material practice to regional and temporal artistic developments.

The work, dated 1710, presents a modestly rendered tableau in which a lion occupies the upper right quadrant while a gazelle appears in the upper left. Between the two figures, stylized foliage and leaves provide a simple natural backdrop. The composition relies on a restrained palette of light tones, punctuated by darker line work that defines the basic shapes of the animals and vegetation.

Executed with a stenciled method, the image relies on flat areas of color and minimal detailing. The figures are outlined with darker lines that serve to delineate form rather than model volume, giving the piece a graphic quality. The foliage is rendered in a similarly simplified manner, emphasizing pattern over naturalistic representation and reflecting a decorative aesthetic typical of the period's applied arts.