Charlotte and Henrietta Edmonstone

Details

George Chinnery (1774-1852)
Charlotte and Henrietta Edmonstone
with inscription 'Charlotte married 1st. in 1829 (Mrs Jas. Carnegie) and Henrietta, Eldest & second daughters of Neil [Benjamin] Edmonstone; Charlotte married 2ndly 1845 J. Hodgson; her 1st husband having died 1831: Henrietta died unmarried.' on an old label on the backing board
pencil and watercolour on paper
8½ x 6in. (21.6 x 15.2cm.)

Literature

M. Archer, India and British Portraiture 1770-1825, London, 1979, p.379 (illustrated no. 286) and p.513.
P. Conner, George Chinnery 1774-1852 Artist of India and the China Coast, Woodbridge, 1993, pp.126-27, pl.73.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Edmonstone, who had arrived in Calcutta as an East India Company writer in 1783, had begun a family with an unknown bibi in the 1790s. Three sons and a daughter born in the late 1790s and early 1800s were given the surname Elmore and sent to England to be fostered by the sister of a friend in the East India Company. Edmonstone married Charlotte Anne, daughter of Peter Friel, in 1803, with whom he had five sons and six daughters, including the sitters in the present and previous lots. He was appointed chief secretary to the government of India in 1809 and succeeded James Lumsden as member of the Supreme Court of Calcutta in 1812, retiring after a five-year term.

More from Exploration and Travel: Asia Including China Trade Paintings

View All