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Lot 175

The Agna Mahal, part of the Nawab's palace at Murshidabad on the River Hooghly, with a royal barge and other boats in the foreground
Murshidabad, circa 1810

11 June 2020, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £47,562.50 inc. premium

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The Agna Mahal, part of the Nawab's palace at Murshidabad on the River Hooghly, with a royal barge and other boats in the foreground
Murshidabad, circa 1810

watercolour on paper
342 x 550 mm.

Footnotes

Provenance
General Sir George Nugent, 1st Bt. (1757-1849), Commander-in-Chief, India, 1811-13, & Maria, Lady Nugent.
Thence by descent via the Nugents to the current owners.

The buildings in the background, which include the mosque on the left, the Agna Mahal in the centre, and the banqueting hall on the right, were demolished shortly after 1810 to make way for a new palace for the Nawab which was completed in 1837.

A similar scene, with the same five boats in identical positions, including a morpankhi (peacock-prowed), filchera (elephant-prowed), and one with a horse-head prow, was sold at Christie's, Arts of India, 27th September 2001, lot 55. For a very similar boat, with the same elephant prow and superstructure, in a painting of the same date and style, see Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch, Indian Painting 1600-1870, London 2012, no. 19.

Additional information