SIGNED RAM DAS (FL.1777-82), CALCUTTA, INDIA

The series of natural history studies comprising the Impey Album are some of the most recognisable and sought after Company School paintings. The series was completed between 1777 and 1783 for Sir Elijah and Lady Mary Impey. Appointed Chief Justice of Bengal in 1774, Sir Elijah was joined by his wife three years later. Whilst Sir Elijah was a keen collector of manuscripts and miniatures, Lady Mary was fascinated by natural history and the flora and fauna of India. She assembled a private menagerie in the large park attached to their house in Calcutta before commissioning artists to draw studies from life, perhaps at the the encouragement of the botanist Dr. James Kerr. The project of creating the Impey album, which included 326 natural history studies of which 197 are of birds, would occupy Lady Mary for the full duration of her time in Calcutta.

Lady Mary Impey, née Mary Reade, herself studied natural history and it is likely that she brought a library with her to India. The eighteenth century was a golden age for natural history illustration and George-Louis Leclerc de Buffons Histoire Naturelle was referenced in a note on one of the paintings and likely an important influence on the project. The keen observation and disciplined style of Indian painters trained in the Mughal tradition greatly appealed to European patrons, but were characteristics perhaps particularly suited to Lady Impey's needs. The combination of painting from life, the perpetuation of the European 'bird on stump' conventions familiar to the Impeys and the perceptive Mughal style resulted in a new genre of painting exhibiting great vitality and character (Toby Falk, Birds in an Indian Garden: Nineteen illustrations from the Impey Collection, London, 1984, pp. 2-3). The artists employed by Lady Mary painted on watermarked English paper, and the bilingual notes in the bottom corner of each page is telling of the cosmopolitan nature of Calcutta in the late eighteenth century. Similarly, the reverse of each painting is marked with Sir Elijah's seal written in Persian as found on the reverse of the present lot.

Lady Mary Impey commissioned three Indian artists: Zayn al-Din, Bhawani Das, and Ram Das. All are recorded as natives of Patna so would have trained in the provincial Mughal style that flourished under the Nawabs of Bengal (Andrew Topsfield, 'The natural history paintings of Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Bhawani Das, and Ram Das', in William Dalrymple (eds.), Forgotten Masters: Indian Paintings for the East India Company, London, 2019, p.40). The Album in many ways is deeply reflective of a close collaboration between patron and artist.

Zayn al-Din was the first artist to work for Lady Mary and the most prolific. It is unclear exactly when Bhawani Das and Ram Das - the painter of the present work - became involved but Andrew Topsfield suggests they might have been recruited at first to assist Zayn al-Din whilst training in the style encouraged by Lady Impey (ibid, p.46). Of the three artists Ram Das was the least productive yet technically a very capable artist. Paintings from the series by Ram Das include a fine study of a Spot-billed Pelican in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a Peregrine Falcon and Chukor Partridge, both in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. A painting of a Goshawk by Ram Das from the Graham Arader Collection was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 19 June 2009, lot 131 and a Crimson Horned Pheasant from the Carlton Rochell Collection at Sotheby's London, 27 October 2021, lot 16.

The Black Francolin (francolinus fracolinus) can be found from south-eastern Turkey to Bengal. The local name for the bird is teetar and this is what is written in Persian on our painting. A member of the pheasant family, the black francolin is recognisable for its striking black, white and red plumage on males and is described fondly by John Latham in his General Synopsis of Birds, (Volume 3, Part 2, London, 1783, pp.759-761). Although Latham's entry on the Black Francolin does not mention Lady Mary, the Impey albums were extensively studied by Latham when they came back to London and helped identify a number of new species for his work.

The Impey Album was sold at Phillips of New Bond Street on 21st May 1810 following the death of Sir Elijah the year previously. Most of the paintings were bought by Sir Elijah and Lady Mary's son, Archibald Impey who bequeathed them in 1885 to the Linnaen Society London. Paintings from the Impey Album are in the collections of many major institutions internationally including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Wellcome Institute, the San Diego Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Many are also in private collections. Recent folios sold at auction include in these Rooms, 27 October 2023, lots 132 and 133 and 27 October 2022, lot 108. Others have been sold at Sotheby's London, 25 October 2023, lot 51; 27 October 2021, lots 13 and 14; and 23 October 2018, lot 204.