A Rich Mohammedan

Details

William Daniell, R.A. (1769-1837)
A Rich Mohammedan
inscribed 'A Rich Mohammedan' (on the reverse)
pencil and watercolour
3 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (9.8 x 15.1 cm.)

Provenance

with Spink, London.

Literature

J.K. Bautze; Indian and Western Painting: the Ehrenfeld Collection, Virginia, 1998, p.82, no. 13.

Exhibited

London, Spink, Annual Exhibition, 1995, no. 80.

Engraved

J. Stephenson, The Oriental Annual, 1836, facing p. 16.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

In The Oriental Annual, Hobart Caunter articulated the Daniells' memories of a Mohammedan they visited at Tanjore: 'He was seated on a rich carpet under a magnificent awning, attended by two domestics, one of whom was protecting him from the inconvenience of the sun's rays with a chatta composed of the palmyra leaf, and the other was waving over him a yak's tail, in order to prevent the impertinent intrusion of flies and mosquitoes' (The Oriental Annual, 1836, p. 16). A chatta is in fact an umbrella-like covering rather than the fan depicted here, cooling the Mahomedan as he smokes his hookah on the verandah, beside the river Cavery.

The Oriental Annual of 1835 includes a similar watercolour showing a wealthy European in Calcutta and entitled The Salaam.

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