English: Contemporary or near-contemporary depiction of Guru Gobind Singh hunting an Asiatic lion. 10.75" by 7.5", Anandpur Birh, Private Collection. Found within the Anandpuri Hazuri bir (recension, codex, or manuscript) of the Dasam Granth. The manuscript has been dated to 1696 CE.
According to G.S. Mann in 'Sources for the Study of Guru Gobind Singh's Life and Times' (pages 242–44):
"The illumination and calligraphy manifested in the above documents was also employed in manuscripts of the Granth prepared in both Gurmukhi and Anandpur Lipi. The Anandpur Birh, the earliest extant manuscript of what later came to be known as the Dasam Granth, is a beautifully inscribed text, which records in the margins the names of the scribes. 68 (For the facsimiles, see the last essay in this volume). In addition, the manuscript has two portraits of Guru Gobind Singh pasted on the opening folios. 69 The first presents him sitting on the throne with his attendant waving the ceremonial whisk, and the second shows him participating in the royal sport of hunting. These portraits leave little doubt that some of the accomplished artists of the time had moved to Anandpur and were working under Sikh patronage. These two portraits easily compare with the finest paintings of the period and they are not the only such pictures to have come to light. A portrait presently available in the National Museum, New Delhi, records "Guru Gobind Singh" at its lower edge and was seemingly made by an artist at Mandi in the late 1690s. A portrait at Patna is also believed to have been "prepared during the Guru's lifetime (hayati)." 70 Some of his childhood portraits are also available there. The one below was acquired by Trilochan Singh, an important scholar of Sikh history, from the Patna area and is currently with his son Anurag Singh in Ludhiana. These paintings have interesting correspondence with the verbal portraits drawn by the poets singing at his court at Anandpur."
Quote from 'The Granth of Guru Gobind Singh: Essays, Lectures and Translations' by Kamalroop Singh and Gurinder Singh Mann:
"Another recension of the DG [Dasam Granth], also referred to as the ‘Anaṅdpurī’ bīṛh, has not been elaborated on in much detail. ... There are also two paintings depicting the Guru, one of which portrays him sitting on a singhāsan (throne), draped in red clothing next to luxurious cushions and weapons. The second one shows the Guru shooting arrows and killing a lion."
Further reading: Malhotra, Karamjit K. “Professor J.S. Grewal Prize: IN SEARCH OF EARLY SIKH ART.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 71, 2010, pp. 397–408. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44147507. Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.