Picture Details
Mango fruit, watercolour, pencil and ink on paper.
Partner:
Kew GardensImage reference:
ILLUS53.01/7.0FOrigin:
Darbhanga, IndiaArtist / Date:
Charles Maries, 1886Size:
516 x 359 mmDescription:
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This illustration forms part of a large collection of paintings by Maries held in Kew's Archives. The inscription Maharajah's choice or favourite refers to the variety of the Mango, although this drawing may well have been taken from one of the Maharajah of Darbhanga's own trees, as Maries was currently working on the designs of his palatial gardens. A selection of these paintings bear inscriptions of the mango variety in both Urdu, and its English translation, and sometimes the precise location of the tree. Such observation was important to Maries, as he was intending to publish his research, and thus rekindle the tradition of fruit cultivation in India, which he believed had declined over the past century.
