San Diego Museum of Art - Khansama with a tureen

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Khansama with a tureen

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Khansama with a tureen

Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Karraya, Indian, b. 19th century

Creation date: ca. 1846

Creation place: India

Other Information

Type: Watercolor Painting

Medium and Support: Opaque watercolor on paper

Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Accession Number: 1990.1394

State/Province: West Bengal

Dimensions: 10 5/8 in. x 8 9/32 in. (27 cm x 21 cm)

Provenance

William George Archer, London, England ( - July 3, 1969)

Maggs Bros. Ltd., London, England ( - )

Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California (July 3, 1969 - August 27, 1990)

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (August 27, 1990 - )

Label Copy

February 2008
Nandalal Bose Exhibition
Company School artists documented scenes of British life in India, including depictions of the servants. The patrons would take such images back to Europe as mementoes of their stay or travels to India.
Adapting a naturalistic style familiar to the Western eye, the Indian artists working in the Company manner set figures against a neutral background with a simple landscape setting. The long cast shadows suggest an imaginary light source. As with other Company School paintings, the figure is depicted in an objectifying and documentary way that renders him static and without emotion.

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June 2014 Gallery 10 rotation
Khansama with a tureen
By Muhammad Amir of Karraya
India, Calcutta
Opaque watercolor on paper, ca. 1846
The artist Muhammad Amir of Karraya (in Calcutta) was known for his realistic paintings of British households in India and their possessions, including servants, horses, carriages, and grooms. This new genre of painting developed in the eighteenth century as the East India Company’s presence on the economic and political scene grew, and more British men—and increasingly, their families—settled in South Asia. Wanting to document their lives there, they turned to Indian artists, asking them to use watercolors and to work in styles closer to paintings being made in Europe at the time. This painting shows the khansama, a male cook or steward, from a British household, posed with a piece of the family’s porcelain.
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.1394

Last Updated: 9/5/2017

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Arts of South and Southeast Asia 13th to 19th Century , 6/16/2014 - 12/14/2014

Bibliography

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Mr. Pramod Chandra and Dr. Sonya Quintanilla. Rhythms of India: San Diego Museum of Art. San Diego, California, 2008
Page Number: 29, 31, Figure Number: 9

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