Royal Hunts
Album Page
ca. 1774 (painted)
ca. 1774 (painted)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
‘Company paintings' were produced by Indian artists for Europeans living and working in the Indian subcontinent, especially British employees of the East India Company. They represent a fusion of traditional Indian artistic styles with conventions and technical features borrowed from western art. Some Company paintings were specially commissioned, while others were virtually mass-produced and could be purchased in bazaars.
This Company painting is part of an album, now known as the Gentil Album, of 58 paintings commissioned by a French infantry colonel, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gentil (1726-1799), who served under Shuja ud-Daula of Awadh from 1762/3 until 1775. Shah Jahan and his peacock throne are depicted here. The throne was removed to Iran by Nadir Shah in 1738/9 and subsequently broken up.
This Company painting is part of an album, now known as the Gentil Album, of 58 paintings commissioned by a French infantry colonel, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gentil (1726-1799), who served under Shuja ud-Daula of Awadh from 1762/3 until 1775. Shah Jahan and his peacock throne are depicted here. The throne was removed to Iran by Nadir Shah in 1738/9 and subsequently broken up.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Royal Hunts (series title) |
Materials and techniques | Watercolour on paper |
Brief description | Gentil; Manuscripts, Col J B J Gentil, Faizabad, ca. 1774. Page number 11. Traps, pits and nets for catching tigers, lions and elephants. |
Physical description | Traps, pits and nets for catching tigers, lions and elephants. From the Gentil Album. Page divided horizontally into three. Ways of catching tigers in top section, lions in middle, and elephants in bottom section. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | ‘Company paintings' were produced by Indian artists for Europeans living and working in the Indian subcontinent, especially British employees of the East India Company. They represent a fusion of traditional Indian artistic styles with conventions and technical features borrowed from western art. Some Company paintings were specially commissioned, while others were virtually mass-produced and could be purchased in bazaars. This Company painting is part of an album, now known as the Gentil Album, of 58 paintings commissioned by a French infantry colonel, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gentil (1726-1799), who served under Shuja ud-Daula of Awadh from 1762/3 until 1775. Shah Jahan and his peacock throne are depicted here. The throne was removed to Iran by Nadir Shah in 1738/9 and subsequently broken up. |
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 122 p. ISBN 0944142303
Chanchal Dadlani, ‘Transporting India. The Gentil Album and Mughal Manuscript Culture’, Art History. 2025, pp. 748-761 |
Collection | |
Accession number | IS.25:11-1980 |
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Record created | January 18, 2000 |
Record URL |
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