Suttee, Banks of the Gangees.
[Unsigned, n.d., c.1820s.]
Brown watercolour and wash over pencil, c.165 x 235mm. 6½ x 9¼".
A view on the river Ganges, India. The suttee is the Indian custom of a widow burning herself, either on the funeral pyre of her dead husband or in some other fashion, soon after his death. Although never widely practiced, suttee was the ideal of certain Brahman and royal castes.A drawing from life by a skilful amateur artist from a sketch book of scenes on a voyage of the ship 'Elphinstone'. She was a sloop in the service of the Honourable East India Company launched c.1824 which travelled to the Mediterranean, around the southern tip of Africa and on to the East Indies and Australia. The identity of the artist who travelled on board the Elphinstone drawing the different landscapes and scenes he saw is not ascertained. The sketch book is inscribed in ink with the initials 'W.B.' on the front endpaper.
[Ref: 9408] £220.00
Brown watercolour and wash over pencil, c.165 x 235mm. 6½ x 9¼".
A view on the river Ganges, India. The suttee is the Indian custom of a widow burning herself, either on the funeral pyre of her dead husband or in some other fashion, soon after his death. Although never widely practiced, suttee was the ideal of certain Brahman and royal castes.A drawing from life by a skilful amateur artist from a sketch book of scenes on a voyage of the ship 'Elphinstone'. She was a sloop in the service of the Honourable East India Company launched c.1824 which travelled to the Mediterranean, around the southern tip of Africa and on to the East Indies and Australia. The identity of the artist who travelled on board the Elphinstone drawing the different landscapes and scenes he saw is not ascertained. The sketch book is inscribed in ink with the initials 'W.B.' on the front endpaper.
[Ref: 9408] £220.00