Salim Kills Rhinoceros and a Lion, April 1600

Salim kills rhinoceros and a lion, c. 1600-04 folio from a shikarnama (hunting album) held by the chester beatty library, dublin: salim's hunting book in 50. 1 source this painting (though in different borders) was once part of a shikarnama, an album of images of the hunt presumably compiled for the mughal prince salim (the future emperor jahangir). A shikari (hunt attendant) holds up the head of a dead lioness for the prince to inspect, while in the foreground is a pile of at least four dead rhinoceros, indicating that this must have been an especially successful hunt. In the background is a pile of dead antelope and around them a group of shikaris, most of whom are looking or gesturing towards the cheetah on the other side of the stream that has just brought down yet another antelope. Date: April 1600.