One of four natural-history drawings.
Painting
ca. 1800 (painted)
ca. 1800 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
A Chinese artist made this Company Painting for the British in Malacca. The British had captured this port-city in Malaysia from the Dutch in 1795. British administrators and civilians soon began to investigate the flora and fauna of the area. They recruited the indigenous Chinese artists to make drawings of them. This painting depicts two land crabs (probably Cardisoma hirtipes). It comes from an album of 19 natural-history pictures from the collection of Lord Clive, 1st Earl of Powis. He was Governor of Madras between 1798 and 1803. Four of the paintings are in the V&A. The remaining 15 are in the British Library.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | One of four natural-history drawings. (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Painting; watercolour, Two land crabs, Malacca, ca.1800 |
| Physical description | Two land crabs by a Chinese artist working in Malacca. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Object history | Mildred Archer notes that the drawings were "almost certainly" collected by Edward Clive, First Earl of Powis (1754-1839), while he was Governor of Madras from 1798 to 1803 and were probably made by Chinese painters working for the British in Malacca. They were bought from Sotheby's, London, in January 1956 from the collection of the Earl of Powis, and were part of an album of 19 pictures, 4 of which were purchased by the V&A (IS.1-4-1956), and 15 by what was then the India Office Library (see Mildred Archer, Natural History Drawings in the India Office Library, p. 77). |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | A Chinese artist made this Company Painting for the British in Malacca. The British had captured this port-city in Malaysia from the Dutch in 1795. British administrators and civilians soon began to investigate the flora and fauna of the area. They recruited the indigenous Chinese artists to make drawings of them. This painting depicts two land crabs (probably Cardisoma hirtipes). It comes from an album of 19 natural-history pictures from the collection of Lord Clive, 1st Earl of Powis. He was Governor of Madras between 1798 and 1803. Four of the paintings are in the V&A. The remaining 15 are in the British Library. |
| Bibliographic reference | Archer, Mildred. Company Paintings Indian Paintings of the British period
Victoria and Albert Museum Indian Series London: Victoria and Albert Museum, Maplin Publishing, 1992 188 p. ISBN 0944142303 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.4-1956 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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