NATURAL HISTORY WATERCOLOURS AND BOOKS Lots 170-176 Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800-1894) These recently discovered sketches, are a mixture of first paintings ('originals') and copies, finished and unfinished, and are annotated with a mingling of phonetic Nepali and Hindi writing and tabulated measurement data. They are the only known collection outside those in the Zoological Society of London and the British Museum; some are dated 1849, which is when Hodgson was in Darjeeling. Comparing them with paintings and drawings of the same species of mammal or bird in the Zoological Society's collection adds to our knowledge of how Hodgson organized his work. We can surmise that he would have commissioned and supervised his local artists to paint the first illustration of the animal using skins and freshly killed specimens, notes and measurements, and his own extensive knowledge. This first painting would then have been copied, reworked and refined, probably by the same artist, taking into account additional details. Almost all of the bird and mammal paintings in the Zoological Society collections are accompanied by pencil drawings, probably by Hodgson himself, of the internal and external anatomy, measurement data, soft parts (legs, eyes, etc.) and comprehensive notes on localities, habitats, life histories and behaviour. Few paintings or drawings from Hodgson have been published. The fullest account is in M. Cocker and C. Inskipp's A Himalayan Ornithologist: the life and work of Brian Houghton Hodgson, New York, 1988. auction house is most exciting.

Darjeeling and Nepalese School, circa 1850

A Collection of over four hundred Studies of Nepalese Birds including: Avocet; Chestnut Babbler; Spiny Babbler; Black Baza; Blue-throated Barbet; Golden-throated Barbet; Great Himalayan Barbet, illustrated; Blue-bearded Bee-Eater* (pl. 15); Eurasian Bittern; Silver-breasted Broadbill; Brown Bullfinch; Large Coucal (Crow Pheasant), illustrated; Demoiselle Crane; Sarus Crane; Slaty-legged Crake (pl. 41); Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo; Stone Curlew; Cutia; Crow-billed Drongo (pl. 24); White-bellied Drongo; Lesser Whistling Duck (pl. 31); Pink-headed Duck (extinct, pl. 42); Spotbill Duck; Mountain Hawk-Eagle (pl. 35); Great White Egret (pl. 30); Bengal Florican (pl. 6); Lesser Florican (pl. 37); Purple Gallinule (pl. 32); Bar-headed Goose; Pygmy Goose; Hodgson's Grandala* (pl. 19); Spot-winged Grosbeak* (pl. 25); White-breasted Waterhen; Night Heron, jun., adult; Hoopoe; Black Ibis; Glossy Ibis; Ibisbill (pl. 8); Bronze-winged Jacana; Pheasant-tailed Jacana; Crested Kingfisher; Pied Kingfisher; Ruddy Kingfisher; Stork-billed Kingfisher; Eurasian/Common Kingfisher; White-breasted Kingfisher; Koel, male and female; Red-wattled Lapwing; Crested Lark; Grey-sided Laughing thrush; Lesser Necklaced Laughing Thrush(pl. 39); Rufos-chinned Laughing Thrush; White-crested Laughing Thrush; Liocichla (pl. 3); Red-faced Malkoha; Chestnut Munia (pl. 26); Jungle Nightjar; Bay Owl; Brown Hawk Owl (pl. 14); Brown Wood Owl; Forest Eagle Owl(pl. 13); Blossom-headed Parakeet, male and female; Ring-necked Parakeet (pl. 38); Pelican; Impeyan Pheasant; Blue-naped Pitta(pl. 44); Speckled Wood Pigeon; Great Stone Plover (pl. 9); Indian Skimmer; Painted Snipe; Wood Snipe(pl. 7); Streaked Spiderhunter; Spoonbill; Black Stork; Black-necked Stork; White-necked Stork, illustrated; Purple Sunbird; Sultan Tit; Red-headed Trogon; Woodcock ( denotes that Hodgson first described the species for science) (Plate numbers refer to M. Cocker and C. Inskipp, A Himalayan ornithologist: the life and work of Brian Houghton Hodgson, New York, 1988)

Details

Darjeeling and Nepalese School, circa 1850
A Collection of over four hundred Studies of Nepalese Birds
including: Avocet; Chestnut Babbler; Spiny Babbler; Black Baza; Blue-throated Barbet; Golden-throated Barbet; Great Himalayan Barbet, illustrated;
Blue-bearded Bee-Eater^* (pl. 15); Eurasian Bittern; Silver-breasted Broadbill^*; Brown Bullfinch; Large Coucal (Crow Pheasant), illustrated; Demoiselle Crane; Sarus Crane; Slaty-legged Crake (pl. 41); Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo; Stone Curlew; Cutia; Crow-billed Drongo^* (pl. 24); White-bellied Drongo; Lesser Whistling Duck (pl. 31); Pink-headed Duck (extinct, pl. 42); Spotbill Duck; Mountain Hawk-Eagle (pl. 35); Great White Egret (pl. 30); Bengal Florican (pl. 6); Lesser Florican (pl. 37); Purple Gallinule (pl. 32); Bar-headed Goose; Pygmy Goose; Hodgson's Grandala^* (pl. 19); Spot-winged Grosbeak^* (pl. 25); White-breasted Waterhen; Night Heron, jun., adult; Hoopoe; Black Ibis; Glossy Ibis; Ibisbill (pl. 8); Bronze-winged Jacana; Pheasant-tailed Jacana; Crested Kingfisher; Pied Kingfisher; Ruddy Kingfisher; Stork-billed Kingfisher; Eurasian/Common Kingfisher; White-breasted Kingfisher; Koel, male and female; Red-wattled Lapwing; Crested Lark; Grey-sided Laughing thrush; Lesser Necklaced Laughing Thrush^*(pl. 39); Rufos-chinned Laughing Thrush; White-crested Laughing Thrush; Liocichla (pl. 3); Red-faced Malkoha; Chestnut Munia (pl. 26); Jungle Nightjar; Bay Owl; Brown Hawk Owl (pl. 14); Brown Wood Owl; Forest Eagle Owl^*(pl. 13); Blossom-headed Parakeet, male and female; Ring-necked Parakeet (pl. 38); Pelican; Impeyan Pheasant; Blue-naped Pitta^*(pl. 44); Speckled Wood Pigeon; Great Stone Plover (pl. 9); Indian Skimmer; Painted Snipe; Wood Snipe^*(pl. 7); Streaked Spiderhunter; Spoonbill; Black Stork; Black-necked Stork; White-necked Stork, illustrated; Purple Sunbird; Sultan Tit^*; Red-headed Trogon; Woodcock
(* denotes that Hodgson first described the species for science)
(Plate numbers refer to M. Cocker and C. Inskipp, A Himalayan ornithologist: the life and work of Brian Houghton Hodgson, New York, 1988)
variously inscribed in Nepalese characters and numbered by Hodgson
pencil and watercolour heightened with white
, watermark'MOINIER'S PATENT 1848' (5), 'JOYNSON 1848' (2), 'I NEWEY DARNFORD 1847' (11), 'BRITANNIA' (17), '1840' (1), unframed
9 7/8 x 8 in. (25.1 x 20.3 cm.) or 12 x 7¾ i. (30.5 x 19.7 cm.) (210)

Literature

M. Cocker and C. Inskipp A Himalayan ornithologist: the life and work of Brian Houghton Hodgson, New York, 1988, pl. 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, 32, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44.

Lot Essay

Hodgson's collections of 9,512 bird specimens, consisting of 672 species, including 124 species previously unknown to science, were presented to the British Museum in 1844 and 1858. The associated paintings, drawings and notes which first went to the Museum, were, following Hodgson's wishes, given to the Zoological Society of London in 1874.
Hodgson's animal collections, mainly of skins, paintings, drawings and extensive notes, formed the basis of the 146 papers on natural history that he published between 1826-1858 in scientific journals and which were to have been used for his projected monograph on Himalayan fauna. Hodgson did not receive the support he needed to publish and the book never materialized. Gould had to some extent already tapped the market when he published A Century of Birds from the Himalayan Mountains in 1834 (see lot 174), but Hodgson's work would have included much new information, based on first-hand observations and illustrations, which had the advantage of being done from live or freshly killed specimens. Hodgson's collection of paintings, particularly those of the Darjeeling period, are freer and more natural, and the colours, especially the soft parts (legs, feet, bills and eyes), are more accurate than those produced by Gould's artists.
We are grateful to Carol Inskipp for her additional help in preparing this catalogue entry.

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