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Fish of the Anjana River
Fish of the Anjana River

Fish of the Anjana River

1810
(not assigned)Calcutta, India
Medium/TechniqueGouache, watercolor, and gilding on Whatman paper
DimensionsImage: 28.9 x 48.5 cm (11 3/8 x 19 1/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of Victoria S. Munroe
Accession number2006.1201
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPaintings
Description

The unknown Indian artist who made this painting of a small fish, likely for a British patron, rendered its fins and scales with exquisite precision. Capturing detail was always critical to Indian painting, but its traditional purpose of evoking a mood shifted with the rise of British patronage and the demand for documentation of India’s people, creatures, and lands. The numbers inscribed in the bottom right corner of this page suggest that this was one of a series of paintings, possibly of freshwater fish of West Bengal.

InscriptionsInscribed in lower right with the number 74/64 and in the upper left with a note, in pencil, reading "Cobitis?" Urdu and English inscription on left edge of page reading "Anjana" followed by illegible English text Provenance1999, purchased from Niall Hobhouse, England, by Victoria Munroe Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts; 2006, gift to the MFA from Victoria Munroe. (Accession date: June 21, 2006)