"An Assaburdar or Long Silver Stick Bearer."

Social History (Museum of St Albans)

Coloured lithograph entitled "An Assaburdar or Long Silver Stick Bearer." Drawn by C.D'Oyly, printed by Behar Lithography. From "Costumes of India" by Sir Charles D'Orly Bart. Charles D'Oyly was born in Murshidabad, India, in 1781. His father John Hadley D'Oyly was the East India Company's resident at the court of the Nawab (provincial Governor) of Bengal. The family settled back in England in 1785 but Charles returned to India in 1797 while he was still fifteen. He loved the Bengal landscape and regularly sent drawings home to his family. The family was well connected and Charles rose quickly through the ranks to become head of the private office of the Governor General, Lord Wellesley, in 1803. He went on to other major appointments with the East India Company and became an opium agent in Patna, the capital of the province of Bihar, in 1820. It was in Patna that he developed his artistic style and in 1825 he established the Behar Amateur Lithographic Press, which he ran with the assistance of local Indian artists. Charles D'Oyly retired in 1838 and lived in Italy, still drawing prolifically until his death in 1845.

1830

PX5225India.tif

CD 944

Amy Cooke

3) MoStA Archive Room

India (exact location unknown).

30/03/2006