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Painting - One of four natural-history drawings.

One of four natural-history drawings.

  • Object:

    Painting

  • Place of origin:

    Malacca, Malaysia (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1800 (painted)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Watercolour on paper

  • Museum number:

    IS.2-1956

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

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This is an example of a Company Painting made by a Chinese artist for the British in Malacca. The British had captured this port-city in Malaysia from the Dutch in 1795, partly to ensure that it could not be used for attacks on British shipping. British administrators and civilians soon began to investigate the flora and fauna of the area and recruited the indigenous Chinese artists to make drawings of them. This painting depicts a common crested pigeon (Goura cristata). It comes from an album of 19 natural history pictures from the collection of Lord Clive, 1st Earl of Powis, who was Governor of Madras between 1798 and 1803. Four of the paintings are in the V&A. The remaining 15 are in the Oriental and India Office Collections of the British Library.

Physical description

A common crested pigeon by a Chinese artist working in Malacca.

Place of Origin

Malacca, Malaysia (made)

Date

ca. 1800 (painted)

Artist/maker

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Watercolour on paper

Dimensions

Length: 37.5 cm, Width: 54.5 cm

Object history note

Mildred Archer notes that the drawings were "almost certainly" collected by Edward Clive, First Earl of Powis (1754-1839), while he was Governor of Madras from 1798 to 1803 and were probably made by Chinese painters working for the British in Malacca. They were bought from Sotheby's, London, in January 1956 from the collection of the Earl of Powis, and were part of an album of 19 pictures, 4 of which were purchased by the V&A (IS.1-4-1956), and 15 by what was then the India Office Library (see Mildred Archer, Natural History Drawings in the India Office Library, p. 77).

Descriptive line

Painting; watercolour, A common crested pigeon, Malacca, ca.1800

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Archer, Mildred. Company Paintings Indian Paintings of the British period Victoria and Albert Museum Indian Series London: Victoria and Albert Museum, Maplin Publishing, 1992 188 p. ISBN 0944142303

Materials

Paper; Watercolour

Techniques

Painted

Subjects depicted

Birds, Pigeon

Categories

Indian Company Paintings

Collection code

SSEA

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Qr_O16858
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