In the Company Manner (2009), SDMA Gallery Rotation
The snake-bird is a fish eater that swims partly submerged so that only its long neck and head are visible above the surface. This one has recently swallowed a large meal, which causes its normally long, svelt neck to bulge.

These two charming depictions of waterfowl native to the marshy regions of West Bengal were made for Lady Impey with painstaking fidelity to their subjects. The darter is known as a snake-bird, because it swims sumerged such that only its long neck is visible above the water. Here, it bulges with the body of the fish it has just swallowed.

With multiple applications of paint and fine brush strokes, Ram Das portrays the comb drake's gentle expression and the luminouos depth of color in the smoothly textured plumage. Such attention to texture, color, and detail, which is a legacy from Mughal painting traditions, provides a contrast to the thin application of pigments that European watercolorists used in depictions of natural history subjects.

Sonya Quintanilla (2014) Quebec
Bhawani Das
The Indian Darter or Snake-bird (Anhinga melanogaster)
From the Impey Album
Calcutta, India, ca. 1780
Opaque watercolor on paper. 66 x 46.2 cm
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.1360

Also native to the marshes of West Bengal, the darter is known as a snake-bird because it swims submerged such that only its long neck is visible above water. In this painting, by Bhawani Das, the darter’s neck bulges with the body of the fish it has just swallowed. Like most of the paintings ordered by Lady Impey, the figure of the Indian Darter is approximately life-sized.

Bhawani Das lacked the decorative skill of Shaikh Zayn al-Din, but he compensated for this with a sensitive understanding of the character of his subjects. Regardless of these minor differences, the three painters employed by Lady Impey were each master craftsmen, steeped in Indian traditions but skillful enough to adopt techniques pleasing to their new European patrons.

Paintings such as these were incredibly popular among Europeans in India at this time. One album, created for Marquis Wellesley (1760–1842, governor general of India from 1798–1805), consisted of 2,660 folios depicting a wide range of local flora and fauna. Those commissioned by Lady Impey rank among those of the highest quality. When she returned to England in 1783, at the end of her husband’s term as Chief Justice, she took with her more than 400 natural history illustrations which represent some of the finest—and final—examples of the masterful Mughal style.

Lady Impey’s complete collection of paintings remained intact throughout the nineteenth century. Today what remains of it is scattered among public and private institutions.
Last Updated: 9/5/2017