A GREAT EGRET (CASMARODIUS ALBUS), NORTH INDIA, PROBABLY LUCKNOW, CIRCA 1790 | A great egret

watercolour on paper watermarked 'Whatman', the reverse inscribed: Great Egret. Lai Lyn 5.11.91./Ardia Alba, Lin, numbered in Latin number CXXIV, framed

Christie's London, 5 June 1996, lot 20.
Previously the 'property of a Nobleman'.

Lucknow watercolours of animals usually depict them standing on shrubland. A further bird standing on similar grass and attributed to Lucknow, second half of the eighteenth century, was sold in these rooms, 10 July 1968, lot 154. This powerful portrait of an egret is unusual for its light blue background, which might be the result of a European influence, although it is undoubtedly original to the painting.