Edwin Lord Weeks (American, 1849-1903)
These lots have been imported from outside the EU … Read more PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
Edwin Lord Weeks (American, 1849-1903)

A marriage procession in India

Details
Edwin Lord Weeks (American, 1849-1903)
A marriage procession in India
signed 'E.L. Weeks' (lower right)
oil on canvas
13 7/8 x 20 ¼ in. (35.5 x 51.4 cm.)
Executed circa 1882.
Provenance
Private collection, France.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 11 October 1994, lot 252.
Private collection, U.S.A.
Anonymous sale; Bonham's, Dubai, 13 May 2010, lot 19.
Acquired from the above by a private collector.
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.
Sale room notice
Please note the medium of this work should read 'oil on canvas'.

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Arne Everwijn
Arne Everwijn

Lot Essay

Edwin Lord Weeks’ visit to Ahmedabad was one of the highlights of his first trip to India. Ahmedabad was the largest city in the state of Gujarat and as such was filled with ceremony and tradition which would have caught Weeks' eye. We knows this celebratory subject in particular appealed to Weeks because the same carriage and festively dressed oxen appear in several other of his paintings, including A Wedding Procession before a Palace in Rajasthan and A Wedding carriage. The former was executed in Ahmedabad in November 1882, suggesting that the present grisaille stems from that date, making it one of the earliest compositions by Weeks from this region.
The scene in this grisaille shows a Hindu bride being escorted to her wedding ceremony at another location. The Cutch oxen, a famous breed of cattle from the Gujarat province, wear beautifully ornate silver-plated harnesses and pull a gharry, a typical carriage. Elaborate and detailed, the painting has a photographic, highly finished quality.
Weeks' grisailles were done exclusively for many illustrations in his book and for illustrating magazine articles – they were not preparations for larger colour paintings. Striking for their exacting detail, Weeks created an impression of India that was simultaneously veristic and romantically alluring. It is for this reason that on Weeks’ second trip to India in 1892, he was accompanied by the journalist Theodore Child who was to write a series of articles on their travels with illustrations by the artist.

The authenticity of this painting has previously been confirmed by Dr. Ellen K. Morris and it will be included in her forthcoming Edwin Lord Weeks catalogue raisonné.

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