This October, Sotheby’s will hold the first auction dedicated solely to Company School Paintings, the work of Indian master artists who were commissioned by East India Company officials in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ranging in their subject matter from individual animal and human studies to complex architectural panoramas, together the remarkable corpus of paintings encapsulates on paper the rich fauna, flora and architecture of the Subcontinent.
The works in the auction are being offered by the American collector and esteemed art dealer Carlton C. Rochell, Jr. Rochell spent the first 18 years of his career at Sotheby's, where he founded the Indian and Southeast Asian Art Department in 1988. He was on the Board of Directors and served as Managing Director of Sotheby’s Asia. In 2002, Rochell opened his own gallery in New York.
Prior to the stand-alone auction in London on 27 October, highlights of In an Indian Garden will go on view in Sotheby’s galleries in New York (17-20 September), Hong Kong (7-11 October) and London (22-26 October).
