Picture Details
Curry leaf, flowers and fruit. Watercolour and pencil on paper.
Partner:
Kew GardensImage reference:
ILLUS39.01/74.0WOrigin:
IndiaArtist / Date:
Unknown, c.1828Size:
366 x 260 mmDescription:
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Kew holds a large collection of Indian illustrations bearing the inscription 'Royle, Carey & Others'. Artists formerly under Mughal patronage sought work from employees of the Honourable East India Company, and their talent for delicate and detailed illustration was soon utilised by Western botanists and surgeons. John Forbes Royle was appointed as Surgeon to the East India Company in 1823, and as Superintendent of the Company's Garden at Saharunpore, where he commissioned local artists to paint the medicinal plants. These paintings illustrate the working compromise between the British scientists and the Indian artists; despite the typical muted colours and scientific exactitude of Victorian taste, the drawings still display the decorative, linear quality of traditional Indian painting. Watermark 1827.
