COMPANY SCHOOL LUCKNOW OR CALCUTTA, INDIA, CIRCA 1775-85

Details

AN ASIAN EMERALD DOVE (CHALCOPHAPS INDICA) ON A CITRUS TREE
COMPANY SCHOOL LUCKNOW OR CALCUTTA, INDIA, CIRCA 1775-85
Translucent and opaque pigments with gum arabic, pencil and pen on paper, Persian inscription in black ink and numbered '505' below, Latin identificatory inscription in pencil in the upper left corner, verso plain with '8' written in pencil near the upper edge, mounted, framed and glazed
18 ¹/₂ x 11 ³/₈ in. (47.1 x 29cm.)

Provenance

Claude Martin (1735-1800), Lucknow
Charles Jenkinson, first Earl of Liverpool (1729-1808),
Thence by descent until 2001,
With Niall Hobhouse, until sold Christie’s London, 22 May 2008, lot 20d
Private collection, England, 2008-2024

Literature

William Chubb, The Lucknow Menagerie: Natural History Drawings from the Collection of Claude Martin (1735-1800), Walpole Gallery, London, May 2001, no. 37

Exhibition

The Lucknow Menagerie: Natural History Drawings from the Collection of Claude Martin (1735-1800), Walpole Gallery, London, May 2001, no. 37

Engraved

Below, fakhta-ye koohi, derakht wa phal-e limoon kaghazi, 'mountain dove, lime tree and fruit'

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Lot Essay

The Indian Emerald Dove, also called the Green-Winged Pigeon or Green Dove, is the state bird of Tamil Nadu. In the mid-18^thcentury the bird was recorded by George Edwards in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds who writes that he saw the bird at the house of a merchant in Rotherhithe and that it had been brought with him from the East Indies (London, 1743-1751, p. 14). However, the bird is found across India, China and East Asia.