A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s2.32

c20.s2.32

Another remarkable bird study is that on folio 10 representing admirably a wild duck standing by the side of a pool at the foot of a hillock (Pl. CXXI). The sunlight on the face of the hillock is boldly indicated, as in Basāwan's picture (*ante*, Pl. CXVII), by a wash of gold, with surprisingly fine effect. I fear that it is impossible to reproduce this effect by modern processes, but the appended photographs may give the reader some notion of the exquisite beauty of these two pictures. Such charming delineations of bird-life evidently were suggested by Chinese example, and may be compared with the picture of the white falcon in the British Museum, attributed to the Emperor Hui Tsung in the twelfth century (Bushell, *Chinese Art*, vol. ii, Plate opp. p. 138). Hsieh Chi, in the seventh century, was a specialist in painting cranes. No Chinese work could surpass the picture of the turkey-cock, ordered specially by Jahāngīr, and now in the Calcutta Art Gallery, reproduced by Mr. Havell in Pl. LXII of *Indian Sculpture and Painting*. The name of the artist is not known.¹