Bengal brief on a branch, India, probably 18th century Ink and watercolor on paper depicting a bird identifiable as a Bengal brief resting on a branch, the line of a hill lined with small shrubs outlined in the distance, the sky populated by a line of birds in flight. Mounted on an album page with several colored borders on cardstock. Dimensions: drawing: 18.6 x 9.2 cm; album page: 27.5 x 27.3 cm Wear, small folds, small blocking at horizon line. Animal portraits in Indian painting developed and became particularly fashionable during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627). Animals, finely observed and depicted with great realism, became veritable muses for artists, who showcased them by making them the central subject of their paintings, often mounted on album pages with illuminated borders and margins. In this animal portrait, the talent of the anonymous artist is revealed in the delicacy of the bird's features, the softness of its color palette and the naturalism of its treatment, enabling us to identify the species of Bengal Brief to which it belongs. This bird, with its colorful plumage and face embraced by a long black stripe, is particularly common in India and several Southeast Asian countries. Another Mughal portrait of brève, attributed to the 1625s, is known from the Sir Cowasji Jahangir Collection in Bombay, the bird depicted in the same posture but resting on the grass, still beneath a line of birds in flight in the distant sky. An Indian Painting with a Pitta on a Branch, Mughal India, probably 18th century