Hwamei on Terminalia Branch, 1780
Sheikh Zain al-Dinexpand_more
Opaque colors on paper Clark #2012-3-1expand_more
Gift of Elizabeth and Willard Clarkexpand_more 2018.53.7
Not on Viewexpand_more
The famed ‘Impey Album,’ to which these 11 natural history studies originally belonged, marks the beginning of a new school in the canon of Indian Painting: that is “Company Painting’’—so called after the British East India Company, which by 1757 had taken effective rule over the sub-continent—spanning from c. 1760-1880 and distinguished by native painters adapting to the needs of Colonial tastes. The result was an emergence of a distinctive Anglo-Indian aesthetic, which we see in the remarkable paintings here.
Between 1777-1783, Lady Mary Impey, wife of the recently appointed Chief Justice of Bengal, Sir Elijah Impey, commissioned three artists: a Muslim, Shaik Zain ud-Din, and two Hindus, Bhawani Das and Ram Das (all of whom trained in a Provincial Mughal atelier in the neighboring city of Patna) to record the newfound wonders of her Calcutta aviary and menagerie.
Details
- Title
- Hwamei on Terminalia Branch
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2018.53.7
- Curator Approved
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