A Female Yellow-Footed Green Pigeon (Treron phoenicoptera)

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A Female Yellow-Footed Green Pigeon (Treron phoenicoptera)

Amir Mohtashemi Ltd.

Date circa 1775-1785

Period 18th century (circa 1775-1785

Origin Lucknow, India

Medium Pen, ink, watercolour on paper, gum arabic

Dimension 47 x 28 cm (18¹/₂ x 11 inches)

A charming painting of the female Yellow-footed Green Pigeon. The Yellow-footed Green Pigeon is primarily olive-green in colour with ‘ashy grey above, uniformly bright yellow below, with a lilac patch on wing-shoulder and a conspicuous band across the blackish wings.’[i] The yellow tufted feathers on the legs make it stand out from other green pigeons, giving it its name. As visible from comparing this painting and that of the male (A5506), the sexes are nearly identical, with the females being slightly duller and a lighter purple patch. Also, the head of the male is slightly more rounded than that of the female. The young of this look similar and lack the purple shoulder patch.[ii]
They are found in the scrublands, forests, and cultivated area near towns and villages of southern Asia from Pakistan and India through to some sightings in Sri Lanka. They hang on banyan trees and peepul trees, feeding mainly on fruits and berries, especially peepul figs. Their colouration helps with camouflage amongst the trees. They are locally known as Hariyal in Hindi and Marathi, as well as Haroli in the latter. Hariyal means green, referring to the olive-green colour of the bird’s feathers.
These birds are almost exclusively arboreal, descending to the ground only to drink water. They typically stick to flocks of a few birds or very large groups of not just their own kind, but also other green pigeons, hornbills and other fruit-eating birds, to enjoy feasts of banyan and peepul figs. Similar to parakeets, they climb on branches, and often hang upside-down with great agility to eat the fruits.[iii]
Below the painting is an inscription in Persianised-Urdu saying Haral and the number 475 on the lower right. An inscription in ink in English reads Purple shouldered Pigeon. fe. B.C.

[i] Ali, Salim, and Ripley S. Dillon. Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, Together with Those of Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Ceylon. Vol. 3. 10 vols. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1968, p. 108
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Llewellyn-Jones, Rosie, ‘Claude Martin, An Enlightened Collector’, Hobhouse, Niall, The Lucknow Menagerie: Natural History Drawings from the Collection of Claude Martin (1735-1800), May 2001.

Stock no.: A5507

Date: circa 1775-1785

Period: 18th century (circa 1775-1785

Origin: Lucknow, India

Medium: Pen, ink, watercolour on paper, gum arabic

Dimension: 47 x 28 cm (18¹/₂ x 11 inches)

Provenance: Two striking paintings of the Yellow-footed green Pigeon (Treron phoenicoptera) from the collection of the French general, architect, surveyor, gunsmith, banker and botanist, Claude Martin. Martin was initially based in Fort William in Calcutta before moving to Lucknow where he lived from 1776 until his death and where he had a close relationship with the Nawab of Awadh, Mirza Asaf-ud-Daula. Through indigo cultivation, money-lending and serving the Nawab, he became extremely wealthy. He used his wealth to patronise painters, build schools and explore his scientific interests. Martin’s keen interest in paintings is reflected in the fact that by the time of his death, his collection included over 650 Company School paintings of birds, all painted by Mughal-trained painters.
According to Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, “a small number of birds were kept at the Majafgarh [sic] estate, probably housed in elegant bamboo cages. These included pigeons, parrots, cuckoos, a nightingale (bulbul), partridges and the Indian robin. Martin mentions a caged songbird that was sent from Lucknow to Najafgarh, but which died on the journey. He ordered the carrier to refund the ten rupees cost of the bird. Water birds could be found along the banks of the Ganges at Najafgarh or the Gomti in Lucknow. But the birds of prey, on their perches, are harder to identify. Unlike the Nawab and his courtiers, Martin was not a keens huntsman.”[i] It was, in fact, the Nawab who had the largest collection of birds in Awadh. It is possible that Claude Martin had access to some of them or commissioned the paintings of these birds from the Nawab’s collection, though no written proof of this has yet been found.
The numbering of these paintings and those found in The Lucknow Menagerie Hobhouse catalogue indicates that there were at least 658 drawings of birds, 600 of plants, 606 of reptiles and some animals, that have now been dispersed across many private collections. Martin kept a store of European paper, and the paper used for these paintings would have been made c. 1760-1780. These paintings would have been executed between Martin’s arrival in Lucknow and 1785. This would place them 20 years ahead of the Marquis of Wellesley’s collection in Calcutta but around the time of those made in Patna under Sir Elijah and Lady Impey’s commission between 1774 and 1782. Impey visited Martin in 1781-2 and it is possible his visit inspired this project.

[i] Llewellyn-Jones, Rosie, “Claude Martin, An Enlightened Collector”, in Hobhouse, Niall, The Lucknow Menagerie: Natural History Drawings from the Collection of Claude Martin (1735-1800), May 2001.

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