Kampani Qalam: Notes on pleasure excursion into splendid Artworks created for East India company.

A lot more in there what meets the eyes

The first of its kind online exhibition is curated by the doyen of mughal historians, William Dalrymple at The Wallace Collection, London which was nothing but the marvel of India’s Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company. He endeavours to  demystify the journey of the Kampani Qalam, the Urdu name for the rich, hybrid art work associated with commissions for the East India Company.

Circle of Ghulam Ali Khan, Interior View of St James, Church Delhi, Courtesy of the Council of the National Army Museum London
Family of Ghulam Ali Khan, Six Recruits, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M Sackler Gallery [Smithsonian Institution]
Portrait of John Wombwell Smoking a Hookah, Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Ligt, Paris

The show strikes up the discussion upon paintings on various themes and the local artists who were commissioned to produce illustrations of birds, flora & faun, reptiles and courtrooms. More than 1,800 of these drawings of flora and fauna are all over the world, perhaps lost, or with collectors, but 600 of them remain at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

Family of Ghulam Ali Khan, © Copyright The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Unknown Calcutta Artist, Silk cotton tree, Courtesy Private Collection
Shaikh-Zain-Ud-Din_Study-of-a-Stork_Courtesy-Private-Collection

Conking the mystery behind each of the showcased artwork, Dalrymple states, “The East India Company officials hired local artists to document the wondrous flora and fauna of the subcontinent, but never credited them. This was the time that explorers from the great new age of maritime travel were bringing back amazing natural historical specimens from other continents. The Kew botanical gardens had just opened in England. All around Europe it had become the vogue to paint, classify and define the natural world, and to publish these in catalogue form. Such books reached the hands of those East India Company officials who had a taste for art; people like the army general Claude Martin in Lucknow, or the judge Elijah Impey in Calcutta.”

Ghulam Ali Khan Southeast, View of St James Church Delhi. Courtesy of the Council of the National Army Museum London
Bhawani Das, A Great Indian Fruit Bat, or Flying Fox (pteropus giganteus), Calcutta, c1778-1782. Courtesy Private Collection
Frontal Taj Mahal illustration

In Appreciation of the well curated show, The Wallace Collection’s director, Xavier Bray says that he hopes the show will highlight the long history of cultural co-operation between the UK and India and help foster partnerships between Indian donors and UK institutions.

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