Figures and cattle beneath a ruin

We are grateful to Patrick Conner for suggesting a date of 1800-1805. This picturesque subject might have been executed before or shortly after the artist's arrival in India. See P. Conner, George Chinnery 1774-1852, Artists of India and the Chinese Coast, Woodbridge, 1993, p. 44, pl. 24, for a drawing of similar technique, signed and dated 1801. The freshness of the pigments suggests that the watercolour had until recently been bound in an album and not exposed to the light.

The first owner, Sir Charles D'Oyly resided in Calcutta until 1808 when he became Collector of Dacca. While in Calcutta D'Oyly became a friend and pupil of Chinnery.

See lot 319 for a watercolour by D'Oyly.