Page 133 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

A FOLIO FROM THE IMPEY ALBUM

108
A MALABAR TROGON
BY SHAYKH ZAYN AL-DIN (FL. 1777-1782), CALCUTTA, INDIA, DATED
1779
Opaque pigments on English paper watermarked "J Whatman", inscriptions in history studies. From what we can tell the artist painted over 40 works in
pen and pencil in Urdu and English in the bottom left and numbered "65" in the his first year, showing an almost immediate mastery of the subject. His best
top left corner, the reverse with the stamp of Sir Elijah Impey work, certainly felt in the present painting, displays ‘a superb synthesis of
20w x 29¬in. (53.2 x 75.3cm.)
a European mode of natural history specimen illustration with an Indian
£100,000-150,000 US$120,000-170,000 sensibility and vital feeling for nature, allied with a flair for decorative effect’
€120,000-170,000 (op.cit.).

Some of the series of works produced by Zayn al-Din show attempts at
PROVENANCE:
The Collection of Sir Elijah and Lady Impey experimentation. We find European style watercolour modelling and shadow
The Linnean Society since 1855 which sold the painting, in a depiction of a Pied Hornbill, now in Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum
Sotheby's, London, 10 June 1963, lot 44. (LI901.7), which would not be repeated. Yet the rest of his excellent bird
The Anthony Hobson Collection
studies belong in two groups: those with the subject isolated on a plain
ground and those situated on a branch or botanical arrangement. The
INSCRIPTIONS:
In the lower left corner, 'In the Collection of Lady Impey| Painted by Zayn al-Din present lot belongs to this second group for which Zayn al-Din showed a
Native of Patna 1777' real confidence for by his second year of painting, quickly advancing and
Above, bana karibi 'Forest oleander', tatmur(?) ya suda suhagin 'Tatmur(?) or developing the European ‘bird on stump’ convention he was taking after.
Suda Sohagin' His studies were endlessly variable and we find a great skill at arranging
composition. We find that both extremely complex compositions, seen in
This stunning painting belongs to the famous series of natural history studies
a painting of a Brahminy Starling with Two Anteraea Moths now in the
completed between 1777 and 1783 for Sir Elijah and Lady Mary Impey. Sir
Minneapolis Institute of Art (2018.53.4), and more elegantly simple works,
Elijah was appointed Chief Justice of Bengal in 1774 and joined by his wife
like the present example, are handled with great proficiency. In fact, Zayn
three years later. The couple were keenly interested in the new and exotic
al-Din’s skill at artfully positioning his subjects on their perches is considered
flora and fauna they experienced in India and Lady Impey kept a private
one of his greatest strengths (op.cit., p.41).
menagerie of animals in their large estate from which she commissioned
painters to draw studies from life. The Mughal style of keen observation
The Malabar Trogon (Harpactes Fasciatus), previously known as the
and discipline appealed greatly to the tastes of the English patrons. The
Fasciated Curucui, is here depicted in a branch of Melastoma malabathricum
combination of using living examples, the perpetuation of the European ‘bird
which has been misidentified as an Oleander. Notoriously difficult to spot,
on a stump’ convention of illustration familiar to the patron and the Mughal
the Trogon depicted here is a female with males more ornately coloured. Also
inheritance of perceptive portraiture resulted in new genre of painting
known for their supremely delicate and paper-like skin prone to tearing, it
exhibiting great vitality and character (T.Falk, Birds in an Indian Garden:
is extremely difficult to preserve a specimen making the appearance of the
Nineteen Illustrations from the Impey Collection, London, 1984, pp.2-3).
bird in scientific reference and study rare. The scientific importance of this
During their stay in India the Impeys assembled an album of 326 natural
study is therefore attested to by the fact that the work is mentioned in John
history studies of which 197 are of birds.
Latham’s A General History of Birds, Volume III. In his discussion between
the differences between male and female birds he writes “[these features]
Of the artists that so rapidly adapted to the tastes and conventions of
likewise figured among those [drawings] of Lady Impey, but in the latter, the
these new patrons, Shaykh Zayn al-Din was perhaps the fastest and most
band on the breast is very narrow.” (Winchester, 1822, p.213).
capable. A ‘native of Patna’, Zayn al-Din trained in the Provincial Mughal
style patronised by the Nawabs of Murshidabad and Patna in the mid-
Following the death of Sir Elijah Impey in 1809 the collection of paintings
18 century. Although one of three main artists working on the Impey Album
th
st
was sold at Phillips of New Bond Street on 21 May 1810. The majority of the
of paintings, Zayn al-Din was the most senior and likely the sole artist
paintings were bought by Archibald Impey, the son of Sir Elijah, and later
at first. Yet for such an important leading figure in Indian painting of the
bequeathed to the Linnaen Society London, a group from which this painting
th
18 century his oeuvre has received relatively little attention (A. Topsfield,
comes. Other paintings from the Impey Album are held in many major
‘The natural history paintings of Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Bhawani Das and
institutions worldwide. Other paintings from the album by Shaykh Zayn al-
Ram Das’, in W. Dalrymple (ed.), Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for
Din have sold in these Rooms, 19 May 1998, lots 89 to 91; 05 June 2007, lot
the East India Company, London, 2019, p.40). A collaborative patron, it is
227 and 228; and 07 October 2008, lot 272. More recently works were sold
doubtless that Lady Impey greatly studied natural history in her library and
at Sotheby’s London, 27 October 2021, lots 13 and 15.
would have instructed Zayn al-Din in the conventions of European natural
130 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty 131
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.