Indian Company School Budgerow & Cook Boat (Pulwah), Ganges

An original 19th-century watercolour painting – Indian Company School, Budgerow & Cook Boat (Pulwah), Ganges.

An unusual Indian Company painting depicting a Budgerow boat, a large river boat used for journeys on the Ganges. The Indian crew is on deck, whilst a white European woman can be seen in the doorway to the cabin compartments. When sailing, budgerows had a smaller baggage boat, called a pulwah, accompanying them carrying provisions, servants and facilities for cooking, which can be seen here at the right.

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 watermarked John Hall 1827.