A BOTANICAL TINTED DRAWING OF A NEELAMBARI PLANT (INDIGOFERA TINCTORIA)
Possibly Patna or Calcutta, West Bengal, Eastern India, late 18th - early 19th century

Opaque pigments, ink and pencil on paper, the vertical composition depicting a naturalistic, botanical drawing of an Indigo plant, a deciduous spreading tropical shrub or subshrub of the pea family, with large pinnate leaves to the base and younger, smaller leaves at the top, three long pea pods depicted on one of the branches, on J. Whatman watermarked, laid paper, on the upper left corner in black ink a Persian numeral (130) and the common Indian name of the plant in Persian characters Neel Amari, 43.5cm x 28cm.

For further reference on the different artists and styles of late 18th and 19th-century Indian botanical drawings, please read H. J. Noltie, 'Indian Export Art? The botanical drawings', in Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company, edited by W. Dalrymple, The Wallace Collection, 2019, pp. 78 - 85.