{
"data": {
"id": 163580,
"accession_number": "2005.1",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Two Elephants Fighting in a Courtyard Before Muhammad Shah, c. 1730\u201340. Attributed to Nainsukh (Indian, 1710\u20131778). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; overall: 62.5 x 42 cm (24 5/8 x 16 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2005.1",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Two Elephants Fighting in a Courtyard Before Muhammad Shah",
"creation_date": "c. 1730\u201340",
"creation_date_earliest": 1725,
"creation_date_latest": 1745,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Guler"
],
"technique": "Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Indian and Southeast Asian Art",
"collection": "Indian Art",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Overall: 62.5 x 42 cm (24 5/8 x 16 9/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.625,
"width": 0.42
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 308686,
"title": "Indian Gallery 242 Rotation \u2013 April-November 2018",
"description": "Indian Gallery 242 Rotation \u2013 April-November 2018. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 2-November 18, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2018-04-02T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "(Sam Fogg Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20132005",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2005\u2013",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
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"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"description": "The Mughal emperor responsible for a revival of courtly arts and pastimes was Muhammad Shah (reigned 1719\u201348). This painting was made by an artist from a small kingdom in the western Himalayas who stayed at the Mughal court in Delhi and painted scenes of his experiences.
Like his predecessors, Muhammad Shah enjoyed watching elephant fights. He is shown in his window of public audience, marked by a golden carpet, smoking a hookah. Women from his harem can be seen looking on from behind painted screens.
Two pairs of men hold fire brands and spears to prevent the elephants from running off and to keep them under control. The intensity of the fight\u2014captured at a moment when one mahout, or elephant trainer, has dropped his goad and is about to jump off\u2014is augmented by the dense colors and forms in contrast to the otherwise pale planes, balanced only by the strip of palace windows.",
"external_resources": {
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"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60480284"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2005.1-two-elephants-fighti"
]
},
"citations": [],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2005.1",
"images": {
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"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
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"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 163580,
"creators": [
{
"id": 51524,
"description": "Nainsukh (Indian, 1710\u20131778)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": "attributed to",
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1710",
"death_year": "1778",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
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],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2005-02-28T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1725,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1730\u201340",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "cover",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-04-01 19:07:11.822000"
}
}