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Lot Essay
The Impey Album included 326 paintings, of which 197 were studies of birds, 76 of fish, 28 of reptiles, 17 of beasts and 8 of flowers. The Impeys came back to London in 1783, bringing their collection of paintings with them. These were shown to contemporary ornithologists who found them of great scientific as well as artistic interest.
The Satyr Tragopan is a large bird of the pheasant family which inhabits the moist forests of the Himalayas in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. Another painting of the Tragopan Satyra from the Impey album, though attributed to Shaykh Zayn al-Din, was sold at Sotheby’s, 12 October 2005, lot 41.
Other paintings from the Impey album are in private and public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Wellcome Institute, London, the Radcliffe Science Library, Oxford and the San Diego Museum of Art. Other folios have appeared at auction, for instance paintings of a Red-Whiskered Bulbul and a Lineated Barbet by Shaykh Zayn al-Din which sold in these Rooms, 5 June 2007, lots 227 and 228. More recently a Fruit Bat by Bhawani Das was sold at Bonham’s, 8 April 2014, lot 292.
The Satyr Tragopan is a large bird of the pheasant family which inhabits the moist forests of the Himalayas in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. Another painting of the Tragopan Satyra from the Impey album, though attributed to Shaykh Zayn al-Din, was sold at Sotheby’s, 12 October 2005, lot 41.
Other paintings from the Impey album are in private and public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Wellcome Institute, London, the Radcliffe Science Library, Oxford and the San Diego Museum of Art. Other folios have appeared at auction, for instance paintings of a Red-Whiskered Bulbul and a Lineated Barbet by Shaykh Zayn al-Din which sold in these Rooms, 5 June 2007, lots 227 and 228. More recently a Fruit Bat by Bhawani Das was sold at Bonham’s, 8 April 2014, lot 292.