art&culture

agosto 31, 2021 - Sotheby

In an indian garden: the Carlton Rochell collection of company school paintings

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ENCHANTING PAINTINGS BY INDIAN MASTERS IN THE 18TH & 19TH CENTURIES

A Vivid Fusion of Science & Art
From Vibrant Zoological Portraits to Complex Architectural Panoramas

Exhibitions in New York, Hong Kong & London Ahead of First-of-its-Kind Auction on 27 October 2021

LONDON, August 2021 – This October, Sotheby’s will hold the first auction dedicated solely to Company School Paintings, the work of Indian master artists who were commissioned by East India Company officials in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ranging in their subject matter from individual animal and human studies to complex architectural panoramas, together the remarkable corpus of paintings encapsulates on paper the rich fauna, flora and architecture of the Subcontinent.

The works in the auction are being offered by the American collector and esteemed art dealer #carltoncrochell, Jr. Rochell spent the first 18 years of his career at Sotheby's, where he founded the Indian and Southeast Asian Art Department in 1988. He was on the Board of Directors and served as Managing Director of Sotheby’s Asia. In 2002, Rochell opened his own gallery in New York.

Prior to the stand-alone auction in London on 27 October, highlights of In an Indian Garden will go on view in Sotheby’s galleries in New York (17-20 September), Hong Kong (7-11 October) and London (22-26 October).

In 2019 and 2020, The Wallace Collection presented Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company, curated by renowned writer and historian #williamdalrymple. The ground-breaking exhibition brought to the fore the names of some of the finest Indian painters working on paper during the late Mughal period – introducing the public to the names of these truly great artists.

Many of those same names – Shaykh Zayn al-Din, Ram Das, Bhawani Das and Ghulam Ali Khan – are represented in the In an Indian Garden auction, with seven of the works having been loaned to the Wallace Collection exhibition. Most of the others have never been on public view and are emerging for the first time in decades.

“I first began to collect these lesser-known masterpieces over two decades ago simply for my personal enjoyment, my imagination having been captured by their “East meets West” aesthetic. When they were painted, these works were the principal way in which India could be revealed to those in Great Britain, who otherwise could only hear stories about this sumptuous land. The meticulous “miniature” style was scaled up to depict birds, animals and botanical studies with remarkable lifelike detail, with the results rivalling any Western artists who recorded natural history and travel. Many years on, as they are beginning to take their rightful place in world art, these pieces can now inspire a new generation of collectors who I hope will cherish them as I have.”
Carlton C. Rochell, Jr.

“This remarkable collection contains quite simply some of the great masterpieces of Indian painting, brought together by a collector with an incredibly fine eye. This is a unique opportunity to purchase some of the greatest masterpieces of a genre that is only now beginning to receive its full credit.”
William Dalrymple, Writer & Historian
Curator of Forgotten Masters

Further information in the press release to download

- Fotogallery (21)

A Bay Racehorse with a Groom, Signed Shaykh Muhammad Amir Of Karraya, Company School, Calcutta, circa 1842 (est. £30,000-50,000)

8984x6732, 9MB

A Botanical Study of a Silk Cotton Tree (Bombax Ceiba), Company School, Calcutta, circa 1800-20 (est. £20,000-30,000)

6732x8984, 6MB

A Cobra De Capello, Company School, Calcutta, circa 1800 (est. £20,000-30,000)

6732x8984, 7MB

A Crimson Horned Pheasant (Tragopan Satyra), from the Impey Album, Signed by Ram Das, Company School, Calcutta, circa 1777-82 (est. £100,000-150,000)

6732x8984, 7MB

A Great Indian Fruit Bat or Flying Fox, From The Impey Album, Signed by Bhawani Das, Company School, Calcutta, circa 1778-82 (est. £300,000-500,000)

8984x6732, 5MB

A Green Snake, Company School, Madras, dated 25 July 1839 (est. £10,000-15,000)

8984x6732, 5MB

A Himalayan Monal or Impeyan Pheasant (Lophophorus Impejanus) on a Painted Ground, Company School, Calcutta, circa 1803 (est. £25,000-35,000)

8984x6732, 6MB

A Lesser Adjutant Stork (Leptoptilos Javanicus) In a Landscape, Company School, Lucknow, circa 1775-85 (est. £60,000-80,000)

6732x8984, 6MB

A Malabar Giant Squirrel in an Almond Tree, From The Impey Album, Signed By Shaykh Zayn Al-Din, Company School, Calcutta, Dated 1778 (est. £200,000-300,000)

8984x6732, 7MB

A Painted Stork Eating a Snail, From The Impey Album, Signed by Shaykh Zayn Al-Din, Company School, Calcutta, Dated 1781 (200,000-300,000)

8984x6732, 5MB

A Panoramic View of Alwar, Attributed To Ghulam 'Ali Khan, Company School, Delhi, circa 1820 (est £80,000-120,000)

8984x6732, 7MB

A Serow (Naemorhedus (Capricornis) Sumatraenis), Company School, Calcutta, circa 1790-1810 (est. £40,000-60,000)

8984x6732, 4MB

A Trooper of Skinner's Horse Holding a Spear, From The Fraser Album, Company School, Haryana, Hansi, circa 1815-16 (est. £80,000-120,000)

6732x8984, 6MB

A View of the Taj Mahal, Signed by Qudratullah, Company School, Lucknow, Dated 15th February 1880 (est. £20,000-30,000)

8984x6732, 6MB

An Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus Oscitans) in a Landscape, Company School, Lucknow, circa 1780 (est. £60,000-80,000)

6732x8984, 6MB

An Eastern Great Egret, Attributed to Gurudayal, Company School, Barrackpur (Near Calcutta), circa 1802 (est. £40,000-60,000)

6732x8984, 4MB

Lalita Parshad Seated With Four Companions, From The Fraser Album, Company School, Delhi, circa 1820 (est. £80,000-120,000)

6750x8971, 9MB

Two Botanical Studies by Rungia Raju, Company School, Madras, late 19th Century (est. £8,000-12,000) - 2

6732x8984, 5MB

Two Botanical Studies by Rungia Raju, Company School, Madras, late 19th Century (est. £8,000-12,000)

6732x8984, 5MB

Two Botanical Studies Depicting A Branch Of The Indian Fig Tree (Ficus Benglalensis), And A Branch Of The Shorea Robusta Tree, Company School, Late 18th Century (est. £10,000-15,000) - 1

6732x8984, 5MB

Two Botanical Studies Depicting A Branch Of The Indian Fig Tree (Ficus Benglalensis), And A Branch Of The Shorea Robusta Tree, Company School, Late 18th Century (est. £10,000-15,000) - 2