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Source Description
Two princely figures on horseback powerfully charge at a wild boar, simultaneously plunging their weapons into its side just in time to save their companion, who has fallen immediately in front of the enraged animal. The royal hunt was a longstanding tradition in India, demonstrating the bravery and might of the ruler, and involving many of the same skills required for warfare. In the kingdoms of what is today the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, the springtime tradition of the boar hunt was especially significant, for a successful hunt was believed to herald good fortune for the year ahead. To ensure success, servants of the court helped to steer the prey toward the royal hunters; this may have been the role of the unlucky man tumbling to the ground, whose plain white turban has come loose in his fall. Another member of the hunting party, dressed even more simply than the fallen figure, waits behind a tree with a bow and arrows. The kill, however, belongs to the richly dressed princes, who are equipped with multiple weapons. As they kill one boar, another—lying below, pierced with two arrows as a dog tugs on its ear—has already succumbed, while another scampers off, attempting to escape the same fate.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
947
label
Wild Boar Hunt
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
947
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Wild Boar Hunt
description
Two princely figures on horseback powerfully charge at a wild boar, simultaneously plunging their weapons into its side just in time to save their companion, who has fallen immediately in front of the enraged animal. The royal hunt was a longstanding tradition in India, demonstrating the bravery and might of the ruler, and involving many of the same skills required for warfare. In the kingdoms of what is today the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, the springtime tradition of the boar hunt was especially significant, for a successful hunt was believed to herald good fortune for the year ahead. To ensure success, servants of the court helped to steer the prey toward the royal hunters; this may have been the role of the unlucky man tumbling to the ground, whose plain white turban has come loose in his fall. Another member of the hunting party, dressed even more simply than the fallen figure, waits behind a tree with a bow and arrows. The kill, however, belongs to the richly dressed princes, who are equipped with multiple weapons. As they kill one boar, another—lying below, pierced with two arrows as a dog tugs on its ear—has already succumbed, while another scampers off, attempting to escape the same fate.
provenance
Sale, Sotheby's, New York, September 16 1998, lot 217, no. 7181; purchased by John and Berthe Ford, Baltimore, 1998; given to Walters Art Museum, 2016.
date
ca. 1675
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
miniatures (paintings)
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
23.2
height
27.9
dimensionsRaw
H: 9 1/8 x W: 11 in. (23.2 x 27.9 cm)
Source extras
med
opaque watercolor on paper
creator_ids
2191
collection_ids
INT
exhibition_ids
3191
2071
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
0c53b847967af85c
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
5644a9de9751e16b
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no