Lot 69: A BOTANICAL STUDIE COMPANY SCHOOL PAINTING, MADRAS INDIA, CIRCA 1839-49

A 19th-century Company School botanical study executed in watercolour and bodycolour on a single sheet of toned wove paper. The composition illustrates a flowering branch of a Solandra species, likely Solandra grandiflora. The plant is rendered with botanical accuracy, showing two large, trumpet-shaped cream-coloured blossoms and thick, ovate green leaves with prominent veining. A notable detail includes a small fly painted on a petal of the lower flower, a characteristic feature of high-quality natural history illustrations of this period.

47 by 33cm