Description
Indian Company School album comprising 63 paintings depicting birds, early- to mid-19th century. Executed in opaque watercolors on watermarked and 1824-1825 dated J. Whatman paper. Each inscribed along the lower margin, describing the species portrayed. Featuring depictions of the demoiselle crane, the Indian sunbird, the plum-headed parakeet, the mute swan, the crested grebe, the green woodpecker, and additional Southeast Asian avifauna. Housed within a brown leather bound album, decorated with gilt-tooled foliate borders surrounding a diamond medallion. The text block gilded along the upper edge.
Lot Essay:
Company School paintings, typically created by Indian artists for distribution to Western patrons, blended Mughal and Rajput miniature traditions with European watercolor practices, producing a hybrid visual language that was neither wholly Indian nor wholly European. After the British East India Company took administrative control of Bengal in 1757, artists lost courtly patronage and turned to new patrons and commercial markets. At the same time British officials, such as Lord Impey in the late 1770s and Governor-General Wellesley around the turn of the century, assembled large menageries, namely the Barrackpore Menagerie. They subsequently commissioned natural history illustrations and ornithological studies to expand Western scientific knowledge of Indian fauna and biodiversity, which were poorly or inaccurately documented by European naturalists at the time, giving rise to a new genre of Company School works.
(Album) Height: 10 1/4 in x width: 8 1/4 in x depth: 1 in.
Lot Essay:
Company School paintings, typically created by Indian artists for distribution to Western patrons, blended Mughal and Rajput miniature traditions with European watercolor practices, producing a hybrid visual language that was neither wholly Indian nor wholly European. After the British East India Company took administrative control of Bengal in 1757, artists lost courtly patronage and turned to new patrons and commercial markets. At the same time British officials, such as Lord Impey in the late 1770s and Governor-General Wellesley around the turn of the century, assembled large menageries, namely the Barrackpore Menagerie. They subsequently commissioned natural history illustrations and ornithological studies to expand Western scientific knowledge of Indian fauna and biodiversity, which were poorly or inaccurately documented by European naturalists at the time, giving rise to a new genre of Company School works.
(Album) Height: 10 1/4 in x width: 8 1/4 in x depth: 1 in.
Condition
Toning throughout the sheets. There are scattered areas of foxing throughout and light soiling, especially along pg. 47. There are light handling marks, frits, and light creases along the extreme edges of the sheets. There are some minute to small-sized tears along the extreme edges of several pages. There is a repaired tear measuring approximately 2 1/2 inches along pg. 11. There is a small loss to the lower edge of pg. 52, measuring approximately 1/4 inch in area. The album has been paginated; there are losses to the first numbered page, pg. 5-6, pg. 13, pg. 26, pg. 29, pg. 68, and pg. 70. The front and end-papers of the album appear to have been replaces with later, non-acidic paper. Wear to the album, as expected with age.
Buyer's Premium
30%
19th c. Company School Album of 63 Bird Paintings
Estimate $8,000-$12,000
Starting Bid
$5,000
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This auction is curated by:
Sean BlanchetAsian Art Specialist
Robert SnellPaintings and Sculpture Specialist
Arts of Asia
Nov 10, 2026, 11:00 AM ESTSt. Paul, MN, United States
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