"Great Hornbill", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
The emperor Jahangir’s memoirs record many of the animals he encountered while on his annual peregrinations, and the reasons he wanted studies of them to be painted. While we do not have such notes for this painting, we can imagine that Jahangir was intrigued by the creature’s size, with a wingspan of up to five feet, and by the loud droning noise it emitted, audible a mile away.
Credit: Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955
Recto: c. 1540; verso: c. 1615-20
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
38.7cm
55.121.10.14
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection