Explore remarkable studies of Indian and exotic birds commissioned by Lady Impey around 1780.
The Comb Duck or Nukta inhabits lakes and marshlands in well-wooded parts of the Indian subcontinent. The male or drake has a distinctive fleshy knob (the comb) above its beak. Its head and neck are white spotted with black and the lower plumage is also white, while the upper plumage, wings and tail are largely black glossed with green, purple and blue. This richly iridescent dorsal plumage has been very attractively rendered by Shaikh Zain ud-Din.
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum