Unknown artist (Company style), Agra Style, Indian
Title:
Cheeta, or Hunting Tiger, Belonging to Durjun Saul, Brought by Lord Combermere to Barrackpore, after the Fall of Bhurtpore, March 1826
Date:
1826
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor, pen and black ink, and graphite on moderately thick, moderately textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 11 5/8 × 18 1/8 inches (29.5 × 46 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2006.14.29
Gallery Label:
As the inscription on this drawing reveals, Stapleton Cotton, first Viscount Combermere (1773–1865) seized this cheetah from Durjan Saul, raja of Bhartatpur, in 1826. Lord Combermere had left Britain for India in 1796 when commanding the Twenty-fifth Light Dragoons. After a distinguished military career fighting in Portugal and Spainduring the Napoleonic Wars, he became commander-inchief of the British forces in India in 1825. Late that year he laid siege to the capital of the state of Bharatpur, a princely state independent of British control. Lord Combermere stormed the capital in January 1826 after a three-week siege, ousted Durjan Saul, and restored a pro-British raja on the state’s throne. This cheetah was brought to Barrackpore, the administrative center of the East India Company in India, as a trophy. Gallery label for A Decade of Gifts and Acquisitions (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-06-01 - 2017-08-13)
