Red-Headed Vulture and Long-Billed Vulture

Emperor Jahangir was profoundly interested in natural history and he is known for commissioning highly precise and intricate representations of animals of the Indian subcontinent. Ustad Mansur was his court painter and he was known for his naturalistic approach of portraying birds and animals. He was unique in his time and was given a title, “Nadir ul’Asr” which means Wonder of the Age. Here, in this particular folio from the Shah Jahan Album, the ornithologically accurate representation of vultures by the brush of Ustad Mansur is an evidence of his exquisite mastery of Mughal paintings. His skills are spectacularly evident in the texturing of the feathers. The deep, subtle gradations of sooty black hues on the perched vulture in contrast with the delicate, pearly beige and soft gray tones of its companion. Mansur placed them against a minimalist pale background on a sketchy rock formation entirely from his own imagination to serve as a plausible stage rather than placing them in a literal dense environment. This deliberate restraint focuses the viewer's absolute attention on the raw detail of the birds. We can clearly see the influence of Persian art as the composition is beautifully contained within the highly ornate, intricate gold-flecked floral borders (hashiya). Ustad Mansur is still celebrated as one of the greatest painters in the history of Indian art not only for his exquisite scientific and natural history illustrations but for his ability to capture the inherent nature of living breathing birds and animals.