Lot Essay
James Prinsep was Assistant Assay Master in the Calcutta Mint in 1819. Between 1820 and 1830 he worked as the Assay Master of the Benares Mint, before returning to Calcutta as Deputy Assay Master. He held the post of Assay Master from 1832-1838. Aside from his professional responsibilities, he was a distinguished scholar who interested himself in chemistry, minerology, meteorology, numismatics and antiquities. He also deciphered Kharoshti and Brahmi scripts and was Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal between 1832-1838. Like other members of his family he was a talented amateur watercolourist, and published in print form Benares Illustrated, in a series of drawings, in 1831. Prinsep's Ghat in Calcutta was built in his memory.
Jerry Losty suggests that this watercolour was taken from Prinsep's first stay in Calcutta, before he moved to Benares in 1820. This view of Barrackpore is taken from the north of the house, beside a watercourse spanned by a classical bridge which flowed into the River Hooghly. To the right can be seen The Temple of Fame, erected by Lord Minto to commemorate those officers who had fallen in the service of the East India Company, in the conquest of Mauritius and Java from the French and Dutch, and also to those who fell in the Napoleonic Wars.
Jerry Losty suggests that this watercolour was taken from Prinsep's first stay in Calcutta, before he moved to Benares in 1820. This view of Barrackpore is taken from the north of the house, beside a watercourse spanned by a classical bridge which flowed into the River Hooghly. To the right can be seen The Temple of Fame, erected by Lord Minto to commemorate those officers who had fallen in the service of the East India Company, in the conquest of Mauritius and Java from the French and Dutch, and also to those who fell in the Napoleonic Wars.