Skip to main content
  1. Art
  2. The Collection

A family of Bhil hunters

Artist Unknown, India, Delhi, Mughal or Deccani

Artwork Details

A family of Bhil hunters
18th century
Artist Unknown, India, Delhi, Mughal or Deccani
ink, watercolor wash, and gold on paper
5 1/4 in x 4 15/16 in (13.3 cm x 12.5 cm);4 15/16 in x 5 1/4 in (12.5 cm x 13.3 cm);19 3/8 in x 14 3/8 in (49.21 cm x 36.51 cm)
Gift of Mr. George P. Bickford for the James Marshall Plumer Memorial Collection
1964/2.117

Tags

Description

The Bhil people are a desert-dwelling tribe who subsist in the harshest environment of Rajasthan in northwest India. Even today, they remain among the poorest and most primitive of Indian tribal groups. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Bhil were a favorite subject of painters who served at the courts of the Mughal emperors or the smaller Islamic states in the Deccan, the high plateau of south central India. With a sympathetic eye, this unknown artist has rendered scenes from daily life among the Bhil, such as hunters returning with game, women preparing chapati bread, and young mothers with their children.
Exhibited in "Divine Encounters, Earthly Pleasures: Twenty Centuries of Indian Art," 12/12/03-2/22/04.

Usage Rights:

If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.