January 3, 2027–ongoing

This installation celebrates the range of depictions of animals and plant life in India from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century. From legendary epics such as the Ramayana to fantastical fables, tigers, bears, monkeys, birds, and many other animals have played central characters and have been highly regarded for their innate abilities or spiritual significance. Equally, depictions of palace gardens, idyllic forests, and lush scenery provided canopies of nature within which these stories would unfold.

During the Mughal Empire (1526–1857), rulers were often depicted displaying their prowess and mastery of the natural world through hunting scenes, or in portraits with elaborate floral motifs as an indication of their intellectual and aesthetic sophistication. This extended to architectural embellishments, as seen in the intricate patterns of pietra dura (inlaid cut stone) in the Taj Mahal (constructed 1592–1666).

By the time the Taj Mahal was completed, the British East India Company (chartered in 1600) was increasingly expanding a global trading enterprise overseeing exchanges of goods and people between Europe and the Americas, Africa, India, and China. Their formidable economic power eventually led to the establishment of the British Raj in 1858.

The East India Company commissioned descriptive paintings of the animal and plant life of India to be shared with a European audience seeking to understand the vast and complex country. This resulted in the Company School paintings, which flourished from approximately 1760 to 1860, created by artists who had previously been part of Mughal court workshops. They were painted in a larger format, rather than the “miniature” paintings that had traditionally been made for intimate viewing in bound manuscripts.

Featured at top right: Bhagwan, A tiger and black buck face each other in the jungle (detail), 1799. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.1118.