IN AN INDIAN GARDEN: The Carlton Rochell Collection of Company School Paintings

IN AN INDIAN GARDEN: The Carlton Rochell Collection of Company School Paintings

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 17. A White Stork (Ciconia Ciconia) in a Landscape, Company School, Lucknow, circa 1800.

A White Stork (Ciconia Ciconia) in a Landscape, Company School, Lucknow, circa 1800

Auction Closed

October 27, 10:37 AM GMT

Estimate

60,000 - 80,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

A White Stork (Ciconia Ciconia) in a Landscape, Company School, Lucknow, circa 1800


watercolour on paper


100.2 by 68 cm. (39 ⅜ by 26 ¾ in.)

Private collection, Switzerland

The White Stork is shy and quiet but features a striking red bill and legs. Its migratory passage through India generally happens in the winter, most notably in the Northwest and South of the sub-continent. It can reach between 100-125cm and is sometimes confused with the Asian Openbill Stork (see lot 5).

This impressive illustration of a White Stork is noteworthy for its unusually large size. The artist has depicted the bird near a water body with the jagged edges of the land mass echoing the pointed ends of the Stork’s feet. The landscape appears more reduced than the miniature backgrounds used for the illustrations of the Lesser Adjutant Stork and the Asian Openbill Stork, lots 3 and 5 in the present sale, which were also painted in Lucknow but slightly earlier. It serves to emphasise the splendidly large size of the Stork. For other Lucknow illustrations of birds dated to circa 1790-1800 and depicted on a similar abbreviated landscape, see a Cotton Pygmy Goose in Simon Ray 2007, cat.no.66; an Egyptian Vulture in Simon Ray 2012, cat.no.66; a Goosander formerly in the collection of Major James Nathaniel Rind, sold at Bonhams, New York, 14 March 2016, lot 109; and a Demoiselle Crane, included as lot 18 in the present sale.

For further discussion on Company School painting in Lucknow, see lot 3.