WD4436

Cameo portrait to right in grisaille of John Herbert Harington (1764-1828), Bengal Civil Service,1803.

Signed and dated: ‘S. Andrews Calcutta 1803.’ In ink inside case lid: ‘John Harrington’ [sic] ‘Esq Bengal Civil Service.’ Written by an unknown hand on a piece of brown paper within the case: ‘Very like Self. John H. Harrington’ (sic) ‘Member of Council Calcutta. Died in London 1828. I am his first cousin. S. Andrews Calcutta 1803.’

Gouache on card; oval, 90 by 75 mm, in an oval case covered with shagreen leather 100 by 85 mm.

Purchased 1998.

Note: Harington spent his entire career in India in the Bengal Civil Service. He reached Calcutta in 1780, and after the usual sort of minor appointments, he became Puisne Judge of the Sadr Diwani and Nizamat Adalat in 1801, and Chief Judge in 1811. He was Member of the Supreme Council and President of the Board of Trade 1822-23, and again 1825-27. President of the Council of the College of Fort William, as well as a Professor therein, he published an edition of the Persian and Arabic works of the poet Sa’di. He died shortly after returning to London in 1828.