Study of a Nilgai (Blue Bull) | Restored Mughal Wall Art

A study of a nilgai — known as the "blue bull," though in fact a species of antelope, native to central and northern India and eastern Pakistan. Mansur probably observed this animal directly in Jahangir's celebrated zoological garden.

Painted by Mansur, ca. 1610-15. Great detail is lavished on the animal itself — the distinctive swirl of hair where its neck meets its body, the deep grey-blue of its coat, the white markings on its lower legs — while the background, classically Mughal in convention, makes no reference to the nilgai's natural habitat. Nadir al-asr Mansur — "wonder of the age" — was the title Jahangir himself bestowed on him for the precision of his nature studies.

The folio belongs to the Shah Jahan Album, the most ambitious imperial album ever assembled by the Mughal court — commissioned to honour the painters and calligraphers of his father Jahangir's atelier.

Restored from the museum archives by aurahliving.com.

Landscape orientation — 20×16 in frame.