A portrait of Ettanettan Tampuran, the Tamuri Raja (or Zamorin of Calicut, r.1828-1845), Malabar Coast, circa 1847

Opaque watercolour on paper watermarked J Whatman 1847

Generally in good condition. Some discoloration at lower left corner and generally to carpet. Slight oxidation of green pigment in curtains with a few small spots of staining on background. This lot has not been inspected outside its frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Calicut was the first Indian city visited by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and was soon established by the Portuguese as a major trading centre for calico. The Tamuri Rajas were a powerful ruling house who were fiercely protective of their kingdom. Walter Hamilton in 1820 recalled in 1767 when "Hyder ('Ali) invaded Malabar, the Cochin Raja quietly submitted to pay tribute, while the pride of the Zamorin refused any kind of submission, and after an unavailing resistance, being made prisoner, set fire to the house in which he was confined, and was burned with it." (Hamilton 1971).

The subject of the present portrait, Ettanettan Tampuran, reigned from 1828 to 1845, by which time the rulers had been pensioned by the British. Two similar portraits of Ettanettan Tampuran have been sold in these rooms 16 June 2010, lot 6, and 14 December 1987, lot 66. For a third closely related portrait of the same sitter, formerly in the Stuart Cary Welch Collection and donated to Harvard Art Museums (2009.202.249), see Welch 1978, no.77.