Bengal River Fish, 1804

Bengal River Fish, ca. 1804 India; Calcutta School Pencil, gouache, watercolor, and gilding on paper 14 1/4 x 20 1/2 in. (36.1 x 52 cm) Metropolitan Museum, New York.

A lovely drawing, delicate, precise, and gilded.  The description on the Met website says: This painting shows two views of a Bengal river fish, executed in pencil and watercolor with traces of gilding on paper. The twin images of each side of the fish are placed by one another, the upper image in a dark gray tone and the lower one in a paler shade of the same color. The mottled, scaly surface of the fish's body is carefully rendered, as are its mouth and eyes. The painting is from the collection of Marquis Wellesley, governor-general of India from 1798 until 1805. Wellesley had large menageries and hired native artists to paint each of the birds and animals in them.