Cheetah (Sappi collection)
David Shepherd
Cheetah
Signed Limited Edition of 500
Image Size 18" x 13"
One of the SAPPI Collection entitled "David Shepherd in South Africa"
In eastern Asia, records are confusing as regional names for the leopard and the cheetah may be used interchangeably.
The earliest depiction of cheetahs from eastern Asia dates back to the Tang dynasty (7th to 10th centuries AD); paintings depict tethered cheetahs and cheetahs mounted on horses.
Chinese emperors would use cheetahs and caracals as gifts.
In the 13th and the 14th centuries, the Yuan rulers bought numerous cheetahs from the western parts of the empire and from Muslim merchants.
According to the Ming Shilu, the subsequent Ming dynasty (14th to 17th centuries) continued this practice.
Tomb figurines from the Mongol empire, dating back to the reign of Kublai Khan (1260-1294 AD), represent cheetahs on horseback.
The Mughal ruler Akbar the Great (1556-1605 AD) is said to have kept as many as 1000 khasa (imperial) cheetahs.
His son Jahangir wrote in his memoirs, Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, that only one of them gave birth.
Mughal rulers trained cheetahs and caracals in a similar way as the western Asians, and used them to hunt game, especially blackbuck.
The rampant hunting severely affected the populations of wild animals in India; by 1927, cheetahs had to be imported from Africa.