Indian Company School A Caparisoned Horse & Groom, Possibly Skinner's Horse

An original early 19th-century gouache painting – Indian Company School, A Caparisoned Horse & Groom, Possibly Skinner's Horse.

A magnificent Indian Company School painting showing a horse richly decorated and caparisoned, held by its attendant groom. Painted in opaque pigment and gold on cream paper with original handpainted border.

This unusual subject falls outside the conventional ethnographic 'types' of Patna Kalam, being relatively three-dimensional and naturalistic, and more courtly in subject than everyday. There is a sales record for a Company School painting of the same subject (very similar but not identical), depicting the same horse and groom, which auctioned with a swordsman subject that was a copy after painting titled 'Kala with Sabre Drawn' commissioned by the brothers James and William Fraser in around 1815. By extension it is quite probable that the horse and groom subject relates to the Delhi 'court' of the Fraser brothers.

Specifically, the finely detailed caparison in red with green chevron border and gold edging appears in two paintings recording ceremonial events connected to the famous Irregular Cavalry Corps known as Skinner's Horse: 'Colonel James Skinner holding a Regimental Durbar', 1827 and 'The 1st Regiment of Skinner's Horse returning from a General Review', 1828, both by Ghulam Ali Khan (now in the National Army Museum, London). It seems likely that the caparisoned horse in the present painting is a horse related to Skinner's regiment at Hansi, Haryana, north-west of Delhi. The white dress of the groom is similar to that of the Mewati horseman recruited to Skinner's regiment from the Mewat region of northwest India.

Col James Skinner (1778–1841) was a close friend and associate of William Fraser (1784–1835); Skinner's Horses were an interesting feature of the British India Army and Skinner himself was a fascinating figure born to a Scottish father and Rajput mother. Formerly an officer in the Maratha Army, he raised two cavalry units for the British, nicknamed 'The Yellow Boys' for their flamboyant saffron-coloured uniforms. William Fraser additionally bred horses for the East India Company on Skinner’s estate and farm at Hansi for the East India Company. Skinner lived in princely style and liked to be addressed by his Moghul title, Nasir-ud-Daula, Colonel James Skinner Bahadur Ghalib Jang - Most Exalted, Victorious in War. He was an important patron of the arts, commissioning paintings in the Company style on a large scale.

In opaque pigment and gold on cream paper with original handpainted border. The paper has a highly burnished, smooth surface, likely coated with a size such as shellac, as was typical for papers prepared for calligraphy and miniatures.

The paper has evidently had historic repairs, including replacement of the border at the right edge with an overlaid strip. The strip itself appears to be original and consistent with the painting, perhaps taken from another painting by the artist of the same type.

Provenance: with Bonhams, London 2011.