Mughal Emperor Shahjahan

Set against a plain pistachio green background often seen in the portraits of this period this is formal portrait of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan (1628-1658) during his waning glory. Still this stylized portrait retains the royal aura in the halo around his head and the rich costume of the long mauve jama with a short printed fur- coat. His turban is bedecked with a Tiger shooting was also a favourite pastime of the Datia rulers. Here the scene is laid in a rocky jungle terrain dotted with trees. Raja Raghuraj Singh ju Dev Bahadur of Datia with companions and relatives is hunting tigers on elephants in the evening. They are also shooting at tigers with guns seated in a decorative hawda on elephants. A number of armed men and drummers are there to assist the hunting party on foot. Two tigers are shown in the forest; one is mortally wounded by the gun shoot wound of Raghuraj Singh and the other is attacking the elephant of the ruler but is also wounded by tusk of his elephant named Ram Prashad. The name of the artist Bala Prashad and the date of the hunt are given on the reverse as 1855 A.D.