Beautiful, large, and vibrantly coloured silk painting of a pair of peafowls, painted after a watercolour attributed to the Mughal court painter Ustad Mansur (master Mansur, ca. 1590-1624). The intriguing work depicts a pair of peafowls in a rocky landscape. The peacock is captured in a natural pose, running with a prey in its beak, which draws the peahen's attention. The scene was most likely drawn from life. The peafowls themselves are painted in a Mughal fashion, while the stylised background and floral border are reminiscent of Persian art. Unlike Mansur's watercolour, which was painted on paper, the present painted is painted on silk. It is also three times the size of Mansur's work.
Mansur worked during what is considered the great age of Mughal art (ca. 1580-1650), and was one of the favourite painters of Emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir (r. 1605-1627). He received the rare title "Nadir-al-'Asr" (unrivalled of his age) from the emperor himself, as he excelled in depicting plants and animals. Jahangir was particularly interested in nature, and prided himself in being the first to direct artists to record it. And in this, no one surpassed Mansur. He was known to paint birds and other animals unknown to the local population, and is one of the very few artists to have painted a living dodo. His peafowl watercolour is one of the best known and most popular miniatures of the Mughal school.
With holes and tears in the blue floral border and the peacock's tail, the border is detached on the right side, but still present, a few small water stains on the left side, and a trail of snail slime around the peacock's tail. Otherwise in good condition, with colours that are still very vibrant. Cf. MET SL.17.2011.36.1; Welch, S., Imperial Mughal painting, p. 91.