A painting from the Fraser Album, depicting a Kathiawar horse, Puch Kuleean, belonging to William Fraser, with a groom

Delhi, Haryana, circa 1816

Footnotes

Provenance
James Fraser (1783-1856) and William Fraser (1784-1835).
Malcolm R. Fraser, Esq.
His sale, Sotheby's, Fine Oriental Manuscripts, Miniatures and Qajar Lacquer, 7th July 1980, lot 44 (illustrated).
Sotheby's, Fine Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 20th November 1986, lot 13
With Niall Hobhouse, London, 1986.
Private UK collection.

Published
M. Archer and T. Falk, India Revealed: The Art and Adventures of James and William Fraser 1801-35, London 1989, pp. 108-109, no. 96.

The original cover-paper (now lost) was inscribed in Persian in William Fraser's hand: Puch Kuleean, a very fine Catteewar horse of mine but badly executed.

The phrase Puch Kuleean refers to the five white markings on the legs and nose of the horse, regarded as auspicious. These markings are referred to in a letter from William to James, dated Delhi, 24th May 1816, offering him a horse with these markings: 'i.e. four white legs & a white face' (see Archer and Falk, op. cit., p. 9, fig. 2, for an illustration of the letter).

The Fraser Album, which emerged from amongst the papers of the family of that name in Scotland in 1979, consists of more than ninety watercolours of high quality, and aside from their technical and aesthetic features provide an extraordinary portrait of life in and around Delhi in the early 19th Century, an area which was relatively unknown to the British at that date, with Mughal control ceded to them only in 1803 and the Emperor nominally in power. James Baillie Fraser (1783-1856) and his brother William (1784-1835) came from Inverness. William went to India aged 16 as a trainee political officer in the East India Company; James arrived a year later in a commercial position in Calcutta.

While James was a talented artist himself, publishing collections of views of the Himalayas and of Calcutta, when he joined William in Delhi in 1815 the two brothers commissioned local artists to depict servants, tradesmen and figures from the irregular military units, some of which were employed by the British, including Gurkha soldiers and the colourfully-attired troopers of units such as Skinner's Horse. More than one artist was employed on the paintings which go to make up the album: some are usually attributed to Ghulam 'Ali Khan, but it is likely that the rest were produced by other members of his family.