Painting, Small Clive Album p. 100, flowering plant, opaque watercolour on paper, Mughal, late 17th to first half 18th century

Painted in opaque watercolour on paper, an exotic flowering plant is painted on a plain ivory-coloured paper ground. It has three stems ending in scarlet blooms which rise out of a circular cluster of stylised pinnate leaves. The plant is finely painted with delicate veining in tones of green for the leaves and stems and hues of red,orange and pink for the flowers with touches of blue at the base of the anthers.
The painting is framed with a gold line with an inner ruling in red and a narrow inner border of strips of plain faded orange paper with a double ruling in black ink at its outer margin and a single one on the inner. The painted is mounted on a plain ivory-coloured paper border with grey strips of paper, outlined in black at its outer margins. A woven beige textile margin has been added on its inner side as a gutter for the binding.

Gift of Mr. John Goelet

This 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 brocadethat may have been cut from l;engths brought home by the 2nd Lord Clive, who served as Governor of Madras, 1799-1803. The album was sold from Powis Castle at Sotheby's sale, London, 16-18 January 1956, lot 332A.

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.

IS.48:50/B-1956