Prince Salim's Lion Hunt at Allahabad – Attributed to Muhammad Sharif, c. 1600 – Restored Mughal Wall Art

Painted around 1600 during one of the most turbulent episodes in Mughal history, this miniature captures Prince Salim—the future Emperor Jahangir—on a dramatic lion hunt. Between 1600 and 1604, Salim established a rebellious court at Allahabad in defiance of his father, Emperor Akbar, spending his time commissioning paintings and hunting. Here, identifiable by his distinctive jutting jaw and drooping mustache, the prince rides a white steed through a rocky wilderness rendered in striking pink and mauve tones. The composition includes courtiers on horseback and foot attendants with hunting dogs, set against the artist's masterful depiction of craggy landscape formations characteristic of the Allahabad school.

In a poignant artistic choice that speaks to the complex father-son relationship, the painter—possibly Muhammad Sharif—gave the rider on the brown horse Akbar's profile and bestowed upon him the honor of striking the lion, even as this painting was created for Salim's rival court. The lion hunt was royal prerogative, reserved exclusively for the emperor and his chosen companions—a fact that makes this scene both a display of princely valor and a subtle claim to sovereign authority. Salim would eventually reconcile with his father and ascend the throne as Jahangir in 1605, becoming one of the Mughal dynasty's great patrons of naturalistic painting and recording in his memoirs a lifetime tally of 86 lions hunted.

This painting is part of Aurah Living's restored Mughal collection — digitally cleaned and color-corrected from archival sources, with the folio's painted inset, decorative hashiya, and original paper margins preserved.

Premium matte paper print, framed in solid wood with a beveled cream mat. Three frame finishes: Black, Red Oak, White. Free shipping in the continental United States.