THE CASTOR OIL TREE (RICINUS COMMUNIS): A BOTANICAL STUDY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MAJOR JAMES NATHANIAL RIND, COMPANY SCHOOL, CALCUTTA, CIRCA 1800

This large study of a castor oil tree (Ricinus Communis) is from the collection of Major James Nathaniel Rind (d.1814), who commissioned a large number of botanical and zoological studies during his time in India. Rind was commissioned into the Bengal Marines in 1778 and later transferred to the 18th native Infantry. Between 1785 and 1789 he was based at Calcutta and was part of a team of officers involved in a survey of India. His son, also called James Nathaniel, was a captain in the 37th Native Infantry and was killed aged 32 at Gandamak on the retreat from Kabul in 1842.

A large group of natural history studies from the Rind Collection was sold in these rooms 13 July 1971, lots 1-48 (this study probably lot 43). Two others have been sold in these rooms 22 October 1993, lot 227, and 8 May 1997, lot 196. A study of a lily from the same series is in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (see Poster 1994, no.246, pp.296-297). Lots 117 and 118 in this sale are also from the Rind Collection.

The Castor Oil plant (Ricinus Communis) is a tropical and sub-tropical species native to the India, the Near East and Africa. Oil from the seeds is used in a wide variety of medicinal and industrial contexts.