BY ZAYN AL-DIN OR A CLOSE ASSOCIATE, CALCUTTA, EAST INDIA, CIRCA 1775

Details

A GOLDEN FRONTED LEAFBIRD PERCHED ON THE BRANCH OF A PEACH TREE
BY ZAYN AL-DIN OR A CLOSE ASSOCIATE, CALCUTTA, EAST INDIA, CIRCA 1775
Watercolour and ink on paper, the bird depicted perched on a peach tree, inscribed in black ink 'Bird, Harooah - China peach tree' on 'CT & Son' watermarked paper, mounted
12 ½in. x 15 7/8 (31.7 x 40.3cm.)

Provenance

Collection of Lord and Lady Fairhaven

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Lot Essay

Although the paintings here (lots 92 and 93) are undated, they are done on paper bearing the watermark ‘CT & Son’. Paper marked as such saw very sparing use, and seems to appear only on folios dating to the early or mid-1770s. The latest examples are known date to around 1778. Zayn al-Din’s first inscribed painting for Lady Mary Impey was executed in 1777. The drawings for Lady Mary were almost universally completed on paper watermarked J. Whatman (the type of which was used for lots 94 and 95 in this sale). It is possible therefore that this painting, and that of the following lot were part of an early, previously unrecognized commission for the Impeys (after their arrival in India in 1774), or that they were produced for another patron, predating the Impey work or possibly overlapping with the beginning of it.

For another painting from the same series, and a note on the attribution to Zayn al-Din or a close associate, please see the preceding lot.

More from Arts of India

View All