A Nobleman hunting with Bhils at night, India, Alwar, circa 1750

This painting depicts Bhils, a semi-nomadic tribe from Rajasthan and Central India, hunting deer at night by torchlight. The Bhils are shown engaged in their curious nocturnal activities in a dark forest landscape dotted with huts. At the upper left a distant fortified town is pictured; a fortress is rendered at the upper right. Female Bhils clad in leaf skirts raise torches held behind thatched shields to lead the hunt for gazelle. Tribesmen, armed with bows and arrows, follow closely behind. Two hunters carry their kill suspended from a pole as others prepare meals over campfires.

A scene of forest animals in the foreground anchors this exuberant painting. At the lower right behind a rocky outcrop, a tiger watches a fantastical serpent about to pounce upon a frightened hare who unwittingly flees in the direction of a hunter’s spear. A recumbent cow and a lively dog watch at the lower left. A solitary lion approaches a nearby stream while attentive gazelle quietly observe the scene from a safe perch.

Above, in the middle ground, three hunters take centre stage. The embroidered shorts, katar dagger, jewels and turban denote the main figure as a nobleman, out hunting with his retinue. We note the thatched shield that the female holds in one hand, a lit torch in the other with a bell suspended to attract and confuse her prey. In the distance a fantastic winged, dragon-like creature depicted in colour and gold and spewing plumes of fire, takes in the charged activity of the night.

For an example of the subject from the Edwin Binney 3^rd Collection, see the San Diego Museum of Art, accession no.1990.412. See also the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no.30.95.174.20; the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession no.IS.156-1952, and the Harvard University Art Museums, accession no.1972.349 for similar depictions.