This painting by Ustad Mansur, Nadir ul Asr, a title received from Jahangir, is in the collection of National Museum, New Delhi. Jahangir had fine falcons brought to his collection, and as a keen connoisseur, he had them painted. These images were included in his official biography Jahangirnama. There is an interesting episode described by him of a falcon brought as a present from Persian emperor Shah Abbas. This is to do with the falcon, which was mauled by a cat, resulting in its death, and the Emperor desired his painters to paint the dead falcon, preserving its memory for posterity. The painting has text in Devnagari script on the top, Jahangir Patashah, refers to the portrait of Jahangir on the facing page, while the words bahari and uttam mean, a ‘falcon’ and ‘excellent’, respectively. The painting shown here, Falcon Perched on a Bird Rest (1615), is one of the many paintings that were painted by the Mughal artist, Ustad Mansur.

Mughal Library