Composite horse, of animals and humans, carrying a rider wearing tiger skin.
Watercolour and gilt on paper
Mughal, ca.1580-1800

The Mughal miniature paintings of fantastic animals... are mosaics of intertwined animal and human forms. In the Hindu tradition such paintings possibly represent the belief in the internal unity of all beings and illustrate the doctrine of the transmigration of souls through successive reincarnations.

From an album of Indian paintings and calligraphy, dating mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries, containing nature studies, genre scenes, and some Hindu devotional images.

By permission of The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford