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Add Or 4667
- Record Id:
- 032-003264096
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003264096
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100028181445.0x000221
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add Or 4667
- Title:
-
A pangolin or scaly anteater, from Lady Impey's collection. Artist(s): Zain al-Din, Shaikh (fl. c.1780)
- Scope & Content:
-
A pangolin or scaly anteater walking towards the right, with a slight shadow against an otherwise unpainted paper ground. Each paw has five claws, with those on its front paws turned backwards as it walks. Its scales are brown and it has blue eyes.
By the Calcutta artist Shaikh Zain al-Din, Calcutta, 1779.
Inscribed in ink: ‘10’ (in upper left corner); and in lower left corner:’ In the Collection of Lady Impey. Painted by ... Native of Patna 1779’; and in Persian:’ Banadau’ (pangolin?) and, in the gap:’ Zain al-Din.’
Opaque water-colour on cream laid paper, 535 by 755 mm, laid down on a white laid paper with painted gold frames and a wash border 605 by 828 mm. Originally folded in two down the centre.
Provenance: Impey Collection; the Linnaean Society (acquired 1855), dispersed with 63 other Impey natural history drawings at Sothebys 10th June 1963. This was lot 7, one of only 10 drawings of ma mmals. Purchased March 1993.
Note: From the celebrated collection of drawings formed by Lady Impey when in Calcutta as wife of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Sir Elijah Impey (in office 1774-82). The Impeys lived in a great house off the present-day Park Street, and built up a private menagerie of birds and animals. Three artists - Shaikh Zain al-Din, Ram Das, and Bhawani Das, all called natives of Azimabad or Patna - were employed by Lady Impey to record her collection. The inscription refers to the collection of animals, not of drawings.
The Linnaean Society group were all painted between 1777 and 1782. For a scaled drawing of a pangolin from upper India, cf. Add.Or.4482.
- Collection Area:
- Visual Arts
- Project / Collection:
- Impey Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003264096", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add Or 4667: A pangolin or scaly anteater, from Lady Impey's collection. Artist(s): Zain al-Din, Shaikh (fl. c.1780)" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003264096
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003264096
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- 1 Item
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- Not applicable
- Scripts:
- Not applicable
- Styles:
- Bengal style
Calcutta style
Eastern India style - Start Date:
- 1779
- End Date:
- 1779
- Date Range:
- 1779
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Appointment required to view these records. Please consult Asian and African Studies Print Room staff.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Medium: watercolour
- Exhibitions:
- , British Museum Kings Library, July 1995 - September 1995
Forgotten Masterpieces of Indian Painting for the East India Company, The Wallace Collection, London - 4 December 2019 - Material Type:
- Prints, Drawings and Paintings
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Zain al-Din, Shaikh, fl 1780
- Subjects:
- Animals
Reptiles