NHD2/186-284

NHD2/186-284

The 'G & B' (Gibbons & Buchanan) Collection

Ninety-nine drawings in laid down in an album of birds from India and the East Indies, in a collection formed under the supervision of Francis Buchanan (afterwards Buchanan-Hamilton) and William Lloyd-Gibbons.

Drawings by various named Indian artists including Haludar, Bishnu Prasad, Mahangu Lal, and Guru Dayal, 1804-07.

Watercolour and bodycolour, a few with varnish or silver highlights.

Album pages 53 by 36 cm; a few drawings of this size, but most laid down on to these pages.

These drawings , apart from Nos.280-4, were mostly made at Barrackpore under the supervision of William Lloyd Gibbons while he was Superintendent of the Institution for Promoting the Natural History of India from August 1805 until April 1807, after Buchanan had gone home on leave. No.261, for example, is inscribed, '1807. Living in the aviary. Said to have a long erect crest'. Five drawings, Nos.280-4, as Gibbons explained at the time of their despatch, were marked with a red 'B', since they had been prepared for Buchanan before Gibbons took charge, although the copies for Barrackpore had not then been made. These drawings should by rights be included in the Buchanan Collection. The 'G & B' drawings were despatched in two consignments in January and June 1807.

The 'G & B' collection is clearly a continuation of the work begun by Buchanan. The drawings are inscribed by the same copyist in the same form with Latin, Bengali, Hindi, or Urdu inscriptions. The same artist Haludar is still at work and 11 drawings bear his name. All but 8 drawings bear the name of an artist: 37 drawings were made by 'Mahangoo Laul' (Mahangu Lal) , 35 by 'Gooroodyal' (Guru Dayal) and 8 by 'Bishnoopersaud' (Bishnu Prasad). These same names occur on the zoological drawings in the Library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Bishnu Prasad also worked for Wallich at the Botanic Garden and accompanied him on his various expeditions. Certain inscriptions are probably by Gibbons; it may he his writing which occurs on No.242. Some of the drawings are duplicates of others in the Buchanan collection; Nos.234, 280 and 284, for example, are duplicates of Nos.357, 438, 439. Certain of the 'G & B' drawings are also similar to some in the Wellesley Collection. No..276 is similar to f.113 of NHD27 and Nos.213 and 282 similar to ff.81 and 95 of NHD28 in the Wellesley Collection. As Wellesley left India in 1805, this would suggest that these particular drawings in the 'G & B' Collection must have been made in Buchanan's time. It is possible therefore that not only Nos.280-4 but other drawings also in the 'G & B' collection were made under Buchanan's supervision. Nos. 284-5 are in a European style, probably by a British artist in Australia.

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NHD2/280-284

Five drawings prepared for Buchanan before he left India in 1805, which were sent on by Gibbons afterwards, and which were bound up with the Gibbons and Buchanan Collection.