Indian Company School Mayurpankhi Nao Peacock Boat

An original 19th-century watercolour painting – Indian Company School, Mayurpankhi Nao Peacock Boat.

An unusual Indian Company painting depicting a Mayurpankhi Nao, a pleasure boat used by royalties and elites on the Ganges and Hooghly rivers. The boat has a distinctive decorative prow in the shape of a peacock. Within the ornate covered section can be seen three white European figures, whilst the Indian oarsmen crew the boat.

This painting is a relatively rare example of an Indian Company painting with a boat subject. Company paintings were produced for Western (especially British) patrons in India in the 19th century, many of whom were working for the East India Company. They display the striking hybrid techniques which led to the categorisation of the 'Company' style as a School. While incorporating traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting, they 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. This painting possibly shows the influence of the work of the Flemish artist Frans Balthazar Solvyns (1760–1824), who, when living and working in India from 1791 to 1803, produced a series of boat subjects, reproduced as etchings, titled 'Boats of Bengal'.

On cream wove paper with blind stamp to the paper at the upper left corner. Although this blindstamp is illegible, others from the same collection are legible as 'Wynne Bath' around a central crown.