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Lot Essay
Moffat was a Scotsman who lived in Calcutta from 1789 to 1815. He learnt his profession of painting and engraving in India and between 1805 and 1810 produced sets of views of towns on the Ganges and the Hooghly. The present drawing is by the same hand as one in the India Office Library WD494. The India Office Library drawing is a caricature of various Calcutta residents entitled 'The Calcutta Cotillion'. The drawing was copied from one by Col. Christopher Green and probably intended for publication but this has not been traced.
It is now believed that the author of the hand-coloured etching 'The Bengal Levée' by James Gillray, published in London in 1792 is by Moffat and the present drawing may be linked to this project. The Levée depicted in the present drawing appears to be in the anteroom to the main reception room that is depicted in the Gillray print. For another Calcutta drawing attributed to Moffat, see lot 238.
It is now believed that the author of the hand-coloured etching 'The Bengal Levée' by James Gillray, published in London in 1792 is by Moffat and the present drawing may be linked to this project. The Levée depicted in the present drawing appears to be in the anteroom to the main reception room that is depicted in the Gillray print. For another Calcutta drawing attributed to Moffat, see lot 238.