Cabinet with Hunting Scene

Hunting scenes, so popular in Indian Mughal painting, were also used in applied arts. Decoration in the Indian-Persian style includes the traditional Indian rendering of plant motifs. The trees grow from low mounds and their leaves not only surround the branches but also fill the surrounding empty surface. There are nine drawers behind the tilting door; eight with pairs of birds and one with a pair of elephants facing each other. This lavishly inlaid box from western India – probably Gujarat – was intended for European export.