Shield with scenes of hunting lions

Four tawny lions stretch across this beautifully painted shield. One sits up and flexes its claws, while the others lunge at a goat, a boar, and a winged monster. The painter delighted in minute details, depicting individual hairs, carefully shading musculature and flower petals, and inflecting the eyes of predator and prey with piercing intensity. The scenes of animal combat are set in a luxuriant landscape among trees and dense vegetation inhabited by small birds. Elaborately painted shields such as this were probably used only for display. In India, a ruler was often described as a lion, lord of the wilderness.