Arik Buka Defeats Alghu — Jami al-Tavarikh | Restored Mughal Wall Art

A great Mongol battle: Arik Buka's forces defeat Alghu Khan outside a fortified palace built into the mountainside. The composition fills with horsemen, struggling figures, drawn bows and a thundering elephant in the foreground. Behind, on a marble terrace, courtiers gather in conversation; the palace walls climb up the page.

An illustrated folio from the Jami al-Tavarikh ("Compendium of Chronicles") — the great early-14th-century history of the world by the Persian vizier Rashid al-Din, the first attempt at a true universal history that drew on Mongol, Chinese, Persian, and Arab sources. The Mughal court treasured illustrated Jami al-Tavarikh manuscripts; this folio is from one such later illustrated copy.

Restored from the museum archives by aurahliving.com.

Jami al-Tavarikh folio after Rashid al-Din, Mughal-Persianate India, 17th century. Public domain.