Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance
Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings in Watercolour – 1842, Mackintosh Provenance

Indian Company School Group of 8 Indian Bird Paintings

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A set of original 1842 watercolour paintings – Indian Company School, Group of 8 Indian Birds.

An outstanding set of 8 ornithological Indian Company School paintings. Each is exquisitely painted in watercolour and opaque pigment on cream wove paper, with inscriptions verso.

Subjects comprise:

Indian Blossom-headed Parakeet Bird (inscribed verso: 'Parroquete');
Indian Bengal Weaver Bird (inscribed verso: 'Emily M. Mackintosh';
Indian Rufous Treepie Bird (inscribed verso: 'Emily M. Mackintosh, An Indian Bird';
Indian Plum-headed Parakeet Bird (inscribed verso: 'Emily M. Mackintosh, Parraquet "Rosie[? possibly Roseata]"';
Indian Sparrowhawk Shikra Bird (inscribed verso: 'Emily M. Mackintosh, A sort of Hawk';
Indian Bush Quail Bird (inscribed verso: 'Emily M. Mackintosh, A Partridge';
Indian White-rumped Shama Bird (inscribed verso: 'Shamah';
Pair of Indian Hill Partridges (inscribed verso: 'Emily M. Mackintosh, An upcountry bird'.

Each sheet approx.: 22.5 x 18.5cm.

The collection was originally owned by 'Emily M. Mackintosh', this being inscribed on the back of six of the paintings. This is presumed to be Emily Maria Mackintosh (1833–1916), daughter of Scotsman James Mackintosh (1789–1869) of Banffshire, who made his fortune in India with tea plantations. From the 1820s to 1840s James Mackintosh was resident at Calcutta, West Bengal. Returning to Scotland he bought a property in Peebleshire he called Lamancha. There is a birth certificate accompanying the collection for John Lindoe Mackintosh, born 1914 at Rawal Pindi to John Burn Mackintosh, a nephew of Emily.

Natural history subjects and India's native flora and fauna became popular amongst Western patrons and collectors in the late 18th and early 19th century. In Lucknow, General Claude Martin provided imported European paper to artists to prepare botanical studies and other natural history works, whilst in Calcutta, Mary, Lady Impey (wife of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Bengal, Elijah Impey) had a menagerie where she employed artists to paint a variety of animals and birds. Also in Calcutta, Dr William Roxburgh, superintendent of Calcutta Botanical Garden from 1793, appointed local artists to make botanical studies of the specimens in his charge. The efforts of Martin, Impey, Roxburgh and their artists gave rise to a large body of Company Paintings dedicated to natural history.

Company School paintings of birds not only make for a valuable ornithological record, but also allow for beautiful decorative compositions, with jewel-like colours and fine feather detail.

+ Read the S&W Collection Research

Indian Company Paintings

'Company School' refers to a variety of hybrid styles that came about through the influence of Western (especially British) patrons on Indian artists in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Finding traditional, stylised Indian painting not to their taste, these patrons began to collect works that, while incorporating traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting were given a more 'western' appearance through their use of perspective and rounded modelling, as opposed to the more decorative, 'flatter' styles that had gone before.

The Company style evolved to meet this demand: as many of their collectors worked for the East India Company, these paintings became associated with the name. Leading centres of the Company style were the main British settlements of Calcutta, Madras (Chennai), Delhi, Lucknow and Patna.

Europeans commissioned sets of images depicting festivals and scenes from Indian life, with people of different castes or trades being particular favourite subjects, as well as dancers and musicians. Collectors were particularly attracted to what were perceived to be the exotic customs, costumes and architecture of their adopted—and in many cases temporary—homeland. Paintings were mostly on paper, and most were small, reflecting the Indian miniature tradition and the intention that they would be kept in portfolios or albums.

Sadly there is little information about the identity of the numerous and flourishing ‘Company School’ artists; indeed Company School (or Kampani kalam) has been criticised as a term for defining a diverse body of works by the identity of its patrons rather than the talented Indian artists by which they are painted. These paintings resonate with fascinating and important questions and contradictions of cultural exchange.

COA
+ Artwork Details

Dimensions: Height: 22.5cm (8.86") Width: 18.5cm (7.28")

Presented: Unframed.

Medium: Watercolour

Age: Early 19th-century

Signed: No.

Inscribed: Inscribed verso.

Dated: In Blindstamp.

Condition: Some minor age toning. Slight soft creasing in places. Two tiny nicks to the upper edge of 'Pair of Indian Hill Partridges'. Short repaired tear to the lower edge of 'Indian Bush Quail Bird'. Tiny, diffuse speckled marks to the paper and three short repaired tears to the right edge of 'Indian White-rumped Shama Bird'. Please see photos for detail.

Stock number: KD-477