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116<br />
The Impey Album, from which this painting comes, was commissioned by<br />
Sir Elijah and Lady Impey. Sir Elijah was the Chief Justice of Bengal from<br />
1774-82. His wife, Lady Mary, joined him in Calcutta from 1777. The Impeys<br />
were of enquiring mind, keenly interested in the exotic fora and fauna of their<br />
new surrounds. Lady Impey kept a private zoo on their large estate and the<br />
Indian painters she employed drew studies from life. Three artists worked<br />
on the ‘Impey Album’ all of whom signed themselves ‘Native of Patna’. They<br />
were Shaykh Zayn al-Din, Bahwani Das and Ram Das, who painted this male<br />
Black Fracolin.<br />
When the Impeys came back to London in 1783, contemporary ornithologists<br />
found their collection of paintings of great scientifc and artistic interest.<br />
Other paintings from the Impey album are in private and public collections,<br />
including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Wellcome Institute, London,<br />
the Radclife Science Library, Oxford and the San Diego Museum of Art.<br />
Other folios have appeared at auction, for instance a Fruit Bat by Bhawani<br />
Das which was sold at Bonham’s, 8 April 2014, lot 292. More recently a<br />
similar Impey page also painted by Ram Das and depicting a male Satyr<br />
Tragopan recently sold in these Rooms, 10 June 2015, lot 61.
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