Painting thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Painting

first half 18th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This study of a flowering plant is included in the "Small Clive Album", a volume of Indian paintings which is thought to have been given by Shuja ad-Daula, the Nawab of Avadh, to Lord Clive during his last visit to India in 1765-67. It contains 56 folios on which are Mughal paintings, drawings and flower studies dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. The binding is covered with an Indian brocade. The album was given to the museum by Mr John Goelet in 1956.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Painted in opaque watercolour on paper
Brief description
Painting, Small Clive Album p. 68, flowering plant, opaque watercolour on paper, Mughal, possibly Avadh, first half 18th century
Physical description
The painting, in opaque watercolour on paper, shows a plant with small crimson flowers on a plain off-white paper ground. The plant rises from the ground which is indicated by a tuft of greenery and fines lines of grass at the base of the stem. The painting is framed with an inner border made up of strips of buff-coloured paper with an inner line in gold and outlines in black with a single ruled line in red at its innermost edge. There are further black outlines on its outer edge on the main plain ivory-coloured paper of the page, which, too, has strips of grey paper and black outlines pasted on its outer edges. There is a strip of beige-coloured woven textile added along the inner edge as a gutter for the album binding.
Dimensions
  • Central painting height: 18.2cm
  • Central painting width: 10cm
  • Page height: 35.5cm
  • Page width: 23.5cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Inscription of identification and number. (inscribed in black ink in Persian, Nasta'liq, on the lower part of the painting in either corner.)
Credit line
Gift of Mr. John Goelet
Object history
This miniature painting is part of the Small Clive Album of Indian miniatures which is thought to have been given by Shuja ud-Daula, the Nawab of Avadh, to Lord Clive during his last visit to India in 1765-67. It contains 56 leaves on which are Mughal miniature paintings, drawing and flower studies on both sides. The binding is covered with an Indian brocade silk that may have been cut from lengths brought home by the 2nd Lord Clive, who served as Governor of Madras, 1799 to 1803. The album was sold from Powis Castle at Sotheby's sale, 16 to 18 January 1956, lot 332A.
Subject depicted
Summary
This study of a flowering plant is included in the "Small Clive Album", a volume of Indian paintings which is thought to have been given by Shuja ad-Daula, the Nawab of Avadh, to Lord Clive during his last visit to India in 1765-67. It contains 56 folios on which are Mughal paintings, drawings and flower studies dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. The binding is covered with an Indian brocade. The album was given to the museum by Mr John Goelet in 1956.
Collection
Accession number
IS.48:34/B-1956

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Record createdDecember 11, 2003
Record URL
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