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Lot Essay
William Fraser (1784-1835) has become synonymous with the hybrid lifestyle of the 'White Mughals' who lived in India in the early 19th century. He first landed in Calcutta in February 1802, and excelled during his training at Fort William, arriving in Delhi to become assistant to the British Resident in January 1806. He accompanied military expeditions to Bahawalpur in 1811 and Nepal in 1815 and has become particularly known for his role in the creation of the 'Fraser Album' - paintings of the people that he and his brother met during their time in India, which have come to be regarded as some of the finest examples of 'Company School' painting (see for example lot 83 in this sale). Although his brother James returned to Scotland in 1820, William would eventually die in India at the hands of an assassin in March 1835. He is buried in St James' church in Calcutta. For more information on the life of William Fraser, see Toby Falk and Mildred Archer, India Revealed. The Art and Adventures of James and William Fraser, 1801-35, London, 1989.
An almost identical composition to the present scene is in a private collection, sold by Spink in 1999 (Simon Ray, The Eye of the Courtier, 11-12 October 1999, no.58). The most obvious difference in the composition between the two scenes is that in our painting, Fraser sports an enormous beard, whereas in the first he only has a much less voluptuous one. Some contemporary portraits of him, such as the painting by Lalji or Hulas Lal painted in the late summer of 1815, show him with only a moustache (Falk and Archer, op.cit., p.38, fig.11). However, in paintings such as a portrait of him in the Alwar City Palace collection, another in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2005.64.117), and a posthumous portrait in the Indar Pasricha collection (Falk and Archer, op.cit., p.55, fig.17), he is bearded. He also appears in this way in a portrait of him talking to his friend Nawab Ahmad Bakhsh of Firozpur on a veranda in the National Museum, New Delhi, in which a striking similarity is apparent between the style of the two men's beards.
Fraser's voluminous beard attracted attention, not all of it positive. Lady Maria Nugent, on a visit to Delhi from Calcutta, was horrified by her encounter with William Fraser and his colleague at the British residency, Edward Gardener. She wrote that 'they both wear enormous whiskers, and neither will eat beef or pork, being as much Hindoos as Christians'. She added that in order to bring them back to reality she would 'talk of the religion they were brought up in, and of their friends, who would be astonished and shocked at their whiskers, beards &c. &c.' Though her preaching does not however, seem to have made much of an impression on her interlocutors (Dalrymple, op.cit., pp.53-4). In addition to William Fraser's beard, his emulation of Indian customs can also be seen by the fact that he and his guests are depicted eating food with their hands.
The Spink painting and that offered here are almost identical. Both are set in a classical interior and depict a party of fashionable figures. The individuals depicted in both works are identical, and the two paintings must have been the work of the same hand. The author of the Spink catalogue notes that the central figure is depicted according to Indian convention, presented larger in size than the other figures as a sign of his importance. Similarly, the chair upon which he sits, though European in design, is gilded like the throne of a Maharajah and he holds a handkerchief, which is splayed to resemble a patka (sash) or chowrie (fly-whisk). The Indian attendant to the extreme left of the picture carries an umbrella, traditionally a symbol of royalty in Indian miniatures. One can therefore see the artist making use of Indian conventions to signify the importance of his new patron. The Spink catalogue proposes a date of 1810 for their painting on the basis of the fashion. However the similarity of our main figure to the posthumous portrait of William Fraser in the Indar Pasricha Collection, which is attributed to 1835, would suggest a slightly later dating for both paintings.
The composition, scale and style of this scene is similar to a near-contemporaneous portrait of the Nawab of Oudh at a banquet, which survives in several copies including one sold Bonhams London, 22 May 2025, lot 216; and another formerly in the James Ivory collection, with Francesca Galloway in 2010 (J. P. Losty, Indian Miniatures from the James Ivory collection, London, 2010, p.156, no.70). Interestingly, whilst in our painting Fraser eats with his hands, in those the Nawab eats with a spoon. Prominent figures in Indian society at the turn of the 19th century often would have many copies made of the same composition, in order to give them as souvenirs to visitors. Examples of paintings produced for this practice include two paintings commissioned by James Skinner formerly in the collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, sold in these Rooms 28 October 2025, lots 54 and 55.
An almost identical composition to the present scene is in a private collection, sold by Spink in 1999 (Simon Ray, The Eye of the Courtier, 11-12 October 1999, no.58). The most obvious difference in the composition between the two scenes is that in our painting, Fraser sports an enormous beard, whereas in the first he only has a much less voluptuous one. Some contemporary portraits of him, such as the painting by Lalji or Hulas Lal painted in the late summer of 1815, show him with only a moustache (Falk and Archer, op.cit., p.38, fig.11). However, in paintings such as a portrait of him in the Alwar City Palace collection, another in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2005.64.117), and a posthumous portrait in the Indar Pasricha collection (Falk and Archer, op.cit., p.55, fig.17), he is bearded. He also appears in this way in a portrait of him talking to his friend Nawab Ahmad Bakhsh of Firozpur on a veranda in the National Museum, New Delhi, in which a striking similarity is apparent between the style of the two men's beards.
Fraser's voluminous beard attracted attention, not all of it positive. Lady Maria Nugent, on a visit to Delhi from Calcutta, was horrified by her encounter with William Fraser and his colleague at the British residency, Edward Gardener. She wrote that 'they both wear enormous whiskers, and neither will eat beef or pork, being as much Hindoos as Christians'. She added that in order to bring them back to reality she would 'talk of the religion they were brought up in, and of their friends, who would be astonished and shocked at their whiskers, beards &c. &c.' Though her preaching does not however, seem to have made much of an impression on her interlocutors (Dalrymple, op.cit., pp.53-4). In addition to William Fraser's beard, his emulation of Indian customs can also be seen by the fact that he and his guests are depicted eating food with their hands.
The Spink painting and that offered here are almost identical. Both are set in a classical interior and depict a party of fashionable figures. The individuals depicted in both works are identical, and the two paintings must have been the work of the same hand. The author of the Spink catalogue notes that the central figure is depicted according to Indian convention, presented larger in size than the other figures as a sign of his importance. Similarly, the chair upon which he sits, though European in design, is gilded like the throne of a Maharajah and he holds a handkerchief, which is splayed to resemble a patka (sash) or chowrie (fly-whisk). The Indian attendant to the extreme left of the picture carries an umbrella, traditionally a symbol of royalty in Indian miniatures. One can therefore see the artist making use of Indian conventions to signify the importance of his new patron. The Spink catalogue proposes a date of 1810 for their painting on the basis of the fashion. However the similarity of our main figure to the posthumous portrait of William Fraser in the Indar Pasricha Collection, which is attributed to 1835, would suggest a slightly later dating for both paintings.
The composition, scale and style of this scene is similar to a near-contemporaneous portrait of the Nawab of Oudh at a banquet, which survives in several copies including one sold Bonhams London, 22 May 2025, lot 216; and another formerly in the James Ivory collection, with Francesca Galloway in 2010 (J. P. Losty, Indian Miniatures from the James Ivory collection, London, 2010, p.156, no.70). Interestingly, whilst in our painting Fraser eats with his hands, in those the Nawab eats with a spoon. Prominent figures in Indian society at the turn of the 19th century often would have many copies made of the same composition, in order to give them as souvenirs to visitors. Examples of paintings produced for this practice include two paintings commissioned by James Skinner formerly in the collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, sold in these Rooms 28 October 2025, lots 54 and 55.