Not on display

An elephant with a howdah

Painting
ca. 1870 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This Company Painting is from a series of 40 illustrating modes of transport, occupations, entertainers, ascetics and Muharram subjects. (Company Paintings were so-called because they were made by Indian artists for the British in India.) Paintings on mica (talc) were produced in Murshidabad, Patna and Varanasi (Benares) in eastern India and in Tiruchirapalli (Trichinopoly) in the south. Indian artists had long used the material for preserving tracings of their family paintings. But sets of pictures depicting occupations, ceremonies, vehicles and so forth were made exclusively for European patrons.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleAn elephant with a howdah (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Opaque watercolour on mica
Brief description
Painting; gouache on mica, One of forty paintings illustrating modes of transport, occupations, entertainers, ascetics and Muharram subjects, Benares, ca. 1870
Physical description
An elephant with a howdah containing two men with a mahout (driver) seated in front of them. Another pair of men are walking in front carrying spears. One of a set of forty paintings.
Dimensions
  • Height: 13cm
  • Width: 18cm
Style
Credit line
Given by Mrs E. M. Bannister
Object history
Presented by Mrs E.M. Bannister.
Subject depicted
Summary
This Company Painting is from a series of 40 illustrating modes of transport, occupations, entertainers, ascetics and Muharram subjects. (Company Paintings were so-called because they were made by Indian artists for the British in India.) Paintings on mica (talc) were produced in Murshidabad, Patna and Varanasi (Benares) in eastern India and in Tiruchirapalli (Trichinopoly) in the south. Indian artists had long used the material for preserving tracings of their family paintings. But sets of pictures depicting occupations, ceremonies, vehicles and so forth were made exclusively for European patrons.
Bibliographic reference
Archer, Mildred. Company Paintings Indian Paintings of the British period Victoria and Albert Museum Indian Series London: Victoria and Albert Museum, Maplin Publishing, 1992, 207 p ISBN 0944142303
Collection
Accession number
IS.20:32-1956

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
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