Six Recruits, folio from the Fraser Album

Object Details

• Artist

  Attributed to the family of Ghulam Ali Khan (active 1817–1855)

• School/Tradition

  Company school

• Label

  Ghulam Ali Khan is widely recognized as the great master among Company School painters. His exceptional rendering and sympathetic characterizations document Indian soldiers not as exotic types but as distinct individuals—from the swaggering Rajput in regimentals (second from left) to the almost fragile youths in village dress.

• Provenance

  To 1835

  William Fraser (1784-1835), India and Scotland, to 1835 [1]

  From 1935 to 1980

  The Fraser family, Scotland, by descent from William Fraser, from 1835 to 1980 [2]

  1980

  Sale, Sotheby's, London, "Fine Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures," July 7, 1980 [3]

  To 1999

  Francesca Galloway, London, to 1999

  From 1999

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from Francesca Galloway in 1999

  Notes:

  [1] On July 7, 1980, the sale of "Fine Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures" at Sotheby's, London, included "seventy-seven lots of company drawings and miniatures from the collection of William Fraser (1784-1835)," works that had been in the possession of the Fraser family in Scotland since William Fraser was assassinated in 1835 by Kareem Khan, acting under orders from Shamsud-din, Nawab of Firozpur.

  William Fraser was the younger brother of the amateur artist James Baillie Fraser, and served in India as a secretary to Sir David Ochterlony and then Mountstuart Elphinstone.

  A history of the Fraser family, and a thorough discussion of these illustrations, was subsequently published (see Mildred Archer and Toby Falk, India Revealed:

  the Art and Adventures of James and William Fraser, 1801-35 (London: Cassell, 1989).

  "Six Recruits" was included in the sale among forty-five Company school watercolors executed in Delhi and during an expedition by William Fraser (alongside Col. James Skinner) to the Himalayas in 1815-19.

  Col. Skinner employed the artist Ghulam 'Ali Khan to document the recruits he was gathering to serve among his troops (according to Curatorial Remark 1, Milo C. Beach, January 14, 1999, in the object record). See also, Provenance Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company (December 4, 2019 to April 19, 2020)

  Facing East: Portraits from Asia (July 1 to September 4, 2006)

  Changing Tastes: Indian Paintings of the 18th and 19th Century (December 17, 2000 to July 15, 2001)

• Previous custodian or owner

  James Baillie Fraser (1783-1856)

  Francesca Galloway, Ltd. (established 1992)

• Origin

  Delhi, or Haryana state, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1810s

• Name

  Galloway, Francesca Marigold, Fraser, James Baillie

• Place

  Delhi, Haryana state, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Portraits

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings