A preliminary etching of Thomas Daniell's Durbar at Poonah, 6 August 1790, illustrating the conclusion of a treaty between the Marathas and the East India Company

Charles Turner, London, circa 1805

Footnotes

Provenance
Formerly in the collection of Christopher Lennox-Boyd (1941–2012), collector of print and ephemera, owner of Sanders antiquarian print shop, Oxford.

A collection of Lennox-Boyd's ephemera is now at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

This very rare preliminary engraving was, according to the print historian Alfred Whitman, one of just seven impressions made for Charles Turner's mezzotint titled A representation of the delivery of the Ratified Treaty of 1790 by Sir Chas. Warre Malet Bt. to his Highness Souae Madarow Narrain Peshwa in full Durbar or Court as held upon that occasion at Poonah in the East Indies on the 6th Augst. 1790. This etching was produced in 1805, the same year that Daniell's completed painting was exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy. It was published two years later as a mezzotint by R. Cribb. (See A. Whitman, Nineteenth Century Mezzotinters, London 1907, p. 237, no. 709). The only other copy of the etching to be traced is in the British Museum (2010,7081.6087).

The painting upon which this etching is based was commissioned by Charles Warre Malet (1753–1815) of the Bombay Civil Service. His last post was as the Resident to the court of the Maratha Peshwa at Poona, 1785–97. The Marathas under the Peshwas, hereditary chief ministers of the Maratha rajas, were the principal power in western India and through their wide-ranging generals and armies they controlled almost all of northern and central India as well.

To counter the growing alarm at what the Company saw as the increasing belligerence of Mysore under Tipu Sultan and his pro-French policy, Malet was able to negotiate a treaty of alliance between the Company, the young Peshwa Madhavrao II (or rather his chief minister Nana Fadnavis) and the Nizam of Hyderabad, which since these two states were often antagonistic to each other was something of a diplomatic triumph. Following Tipu Sultan's attack on Travancore, a Company ally, in 1789, the Governor-General Lord Cornwallis invoked his alliance with the peshwa and the nizam to attack Mysore and for a while to neutralise it. In 1791, Malet received a baronetcy for his part in negotiating the treaty, soon after his appointment as acting Governor of Bombay.

Around this time, Malet employed artists such as James Wales (1747–1795) and his assistant, Robert Mabon (d. 1798). The first commissions Wales received were for a series of portraits, including one of Malet himself, Dr. James Findlay, the Residency Surgeon, and Amber Kooer, Malet's bibi. He was also introduced to the Maratha Court, at that time ruled by the weak, young Peshwa, with Nana Fadnavis as the power behind the throne. Malet commissioned more portraits from Wales of members of the court. While working at the court, it was suggested to Wales that he should paint a picture to commemorate the important treaty negotiated by Malet with the Peshwa in 1790, and taken by the idea, Wales began to make studies for it. The principal sitters he had already painted portraits of, and his assistant, Robert Mabon, he employed on other sketches for the background and costume details. Over the next few years, Wales made repeated visits to Poona and the court, where he established a drawing school, and, with the influential help of Malet, encouraged a lively interest by members of the court in Western art. (For a portrait by James Wales of Nur al-Din Hussein Khan, the vakil to the Residency in Poona, dated 1792, sold in these rooms, see Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 22nd October 2019, lot 158. He appears in the etching as no. 6).

However, Wales died there in 1795 and when Malet returned to England in 1798, he was accompanied by Wales's daughter, Susanna. She brought back many of her father's paintings, drawings and notes, and, after marrying her in 1799, Sir Charles Warre Malet turned to Thomas Daniell (1749–1840) to produce the large painting originally planned by Wales. The picture was eventually exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1805 and is today in the collection of Tate Britain (T12511). In the same year Malet had Charles Turner (1774–1857) create our etching. In 1807, Turner's etching became the basis of the published mezzotint by R. Cribb.

Based on a key, the principal sitters in the painting are, from the left, the seated figure of the sixteen-year-old Peshwa, Madhavrao II (no. 1 in the key) with his outstretched hand receiving the treaty scroll from Malet (no. 2), who is depicted in sombre formal dress, wearing a splendid Chellink set with diamonds on his hat – this rarely bestowed honour demonstrates the high regard for him at the Court of Poona. Between these two principal figures are Nana Fadnavis, the chief minister (no. 3), and Bahirao Pant Mehendale, the Peshwa's agent for British affairs (no. 4). To the right of Malet, is Nur-ul-din Husain Khan, Malet's assistant (no. 6), Joshua Uhthoff, First Secretary of the British Embassy (no. 5); Captain Heirn, Commanding Officer of Malet's bodyguard (no. 7), Dr James Findlay, the British Embassy surgeon (no. 9), Lieutenant Ward of the bodyguard (no. 8) and a distinguished Muslim of the Court (10).
The central figures are surrounded by members of the Peshwa's court, seated and standing in tiered formation as they observe the scene. Many of the figures are portraits of actual members of the court. Set in the Durbar Hall of the Peshwa's Shanwarwada palace in Poona, Daniell has also included ornamental and architectural details such as sculptures of the Hindu deities Ganesh (to the left of the archway in the background) and Vishnu (to the right), and a painted frieze depicting the avatars of Vishnu.

James Wales, after making his drawings, commented in his diary (10th September 1792): 'As the people of distinction in India are fond of fine, or rather rich dresses with watches, snuff boxes, rings etc. etc. introduced, it is no easy matter for an artist to please them without sacrificing the best principles of his art' (quoted in C. A. Bayly (ed.), The Raj: India and the British 1600-1947, London 1991, p. 163, as part of the discussion of Daniell's painting, which was no. 173 in the catalogue).