Mahatt seated on a chair thumbnail 1
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Mahatt seated on a chair

Painting
1764 (painted)
Place of origin
Patna (made)

An Indian woman in a yellow semi-transparent sari and red pyjama trousers half squatting on a European style chair on a terrace, smoking a huqqa which is on a small stand. In the foreground a parapet and a flower-bed with poppies.

Object details

Categories
Indian Company Paintings
Paintings
Object type
Painting
TitleMahatt seated on a chair (alternative title)
Materials and techniques
Opaque watercolour on paper
Watercolour
Painted
Brief description
Painting of an Indian woman sitting on a chair smoking a huqqa, Patna, probablay by the Murshidabad artist Dip Chand, 1764
Physical description
An Indian woman in a yellow semi-transparent sari and red pyjama trousers half squatting on a European style chair on a terrace, smoking a huqqa which is on a small stand. In the foreground a parapet and a flower-bed with poppies.
Dimensions
  • Height: 237mm
  • Width: 166mm
  • Image within innermost painted borders height: 118mm
  • Image within innermost painted borders width: 150mm
14/08/2013 dimensions measured as part of Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project 2013
Styles
Murshidabad School
Company
Marks and inscriptions
Mahatt. W.F.1764 (inscribed on back)
Translation
Mahatt is likely to be the name of the sitter. W.F refers to William Fullerton who commissioned this painting and 1764 is assumed to be the year of completion of the painting.
Gallery label
(March 2022)
This painting is inscribed ‘Mahatt. W.F. 1764’ on the reverse. Mahatt is likely to be the name of the sitter and W.F refers to William Fullerton (d.1805), a Scottish surgeon based in Patna, who commissioned the painting. This is one of a set of illustrations of acquaintances and members of Fullerton’s household. Mahatt is half-squatting in an Indian fashion on a European style chair while smoking a huqqa.
Credit line
Purchased from Martinus Nijhoff in 1903
Object history
Purchased from Martinus Nijhoff in 1903
Subjects depicted
Figures
Huqqa-Smokers
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, 75 p. ISBN 0944142303
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
D.1183-1903

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17544/mahatt-seated-on-a-chair-painting/
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