29 March 2013, 05:55 PM IST
The genre of British watercolours and cultural accessories of the British Raj have always stood apart for their touch of class and their elusive candour.Sotheby's presents a rare set in the month of April.
A large and important Company School album of watercolours of costumes, craftsmen, trades and processions in India circa 1832-35, valued at £200,000 - £300,000, provides a fascinating insight into the Indian culture of the period. Superior to the majority of similar related productions of Company patronage, the album is remarkable for both for its size and quality, but also for its uncommon subject matter. Alongside depictions of craftsmen, processions, dancers and contemporary costumes, unusually the album also contains a self-portrait showing the artist at work, Among the other characters illustrated are a fisherman, doctor, barber, goldsmith, a dressing servant and dancing girls. All in all, the album includes 35 large sheets bound in their original leather covers and is estimated at £200,000-£300,000.
The album consists of thirty-five large sheets of Whatman and Ruse & Turner paper (of varying dates between 1821 and 1828) bound in its fine original leather covers. Most sheets bear three groups of two figures representing a variety of trades, crafts and individual characters, each with a male and female figure. There are also several group scenes of dancers, four processional scenes (Procession of Vistnu (sic); Procession of Sivah; Procession of a Hindoo Marriage and Procession of a Mussulman Marriage), a sheet of four agricultural scenes, the aforementioned view of May Place, Vellore, and the self-portrait of the artist. The portraits of dignitaries include the former King of Kandy, his son, and the Prime Minister of Ava. There is one sheet with portraits of six soldiers of the Madras regiments of Horse Artillery, Light Cavalry, Rifle Corps, Pioneer Corp, Infantry and Golundauz (a gunner of artillery).
The focus of the album, as well as its pictorial style, is the southern and eastern regions of India. Vellore itself, mentioned on sheet XXXIII, is on the Palar River in modern-day Tamil Nadu, between Madras and Bangalore. Other aspects of the album also relate to this general area of India: on sheet.
XXVII is a depiction of a 'Seringapatam Mussulman', the uniforms of the soldiers depicted on sheet XXXI belong to Madras regiments (a watercolour of circa 1835 showing two identical uniforms and labelled 'Madras Light Cavalry' and 'Madras Horse Artillery' is in the National Army Museum, London, Inv.1965-04-18-2) and the title given by the artist to the self-portrait on sheet XXXIV includes the term 'Moochee' which usually means a shoemaker or leather-worker, but in South India can also mean an artist or gilder (see Hobson Jobson, p.579).
In an era before cameras and photography, administrators, officials and visitors to the East India Company would commission such albums, painted by local Indian artists to bring back and show their friends and relatives.
The album contains some interesting and rare portraits, including dignitaries such as the former king of Kandy, his son and the Prime Minister of Ava. Another sheet contains wonderful portraits of six soldiers of the madras regiments of Horse Artillery, Light Cavalry, Rifle Corps, Pioneer Corp, Infantry and Golundauz. The focus of the album as well as its pictorial style is the southern and eastern regions of India, Vellore. A very similar album is in the India Office Collections in the British Library in London. The album will be sold in Sotheby's Arts of the Islamic World sale in London on 24th April.
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