'Dog with Pups' Canvas Cloth Print, c.1780

Provenance

A dog lies quietly as a litter of newborn pups cluster against her, too young yet to open their eyes. The composition is low and horizontal, grounded and still, with the attention focused entirely on the tender specificity of the scene. It is a work about careful observation: the painter has looked closely at these animals and recorded what they saw.

Dogs were kept and prized across the Mughal court and its Rajput successors. The emperor Akbar imported hunting dogs from distant lands, and Jahangir kept one keeper for every two hounds. The tradition of observing and painting animals — from elephants and lions to more domestic creatures — was a consistent feature of court culture, part of a broader interest in the natural world.

The Sawar school, part of the broader Ajmer tradition in Rajasthan, produced a range of animal studies in this period. This painting sits within that tradition of quiet attentiveness: no narrative drama, no religious context, just the precise rendering of a moment of animal life.

Disclaimer:

• The frames shown are for display purposes only and are not included with the artwork.
• As these are made-to-order designer pieces, expect minor colour variations from the displayed artwork.