A panoramic painting of the old city of Lahore is being auctioned at the world’s largest fine arts auction house, Christie’s, in London on June 4.
Having an estimated value between £10,000 and £15,000, ‘An Impressive Panoramic View of Lahore’ is from the collection of Lex Aitken and Alfredo Bouret Gonzalez. The source from which these collectors acquired the painting and the name of the artist who created it are both unknown – factors which usually detract from the monetary value of an artwork.
The ‘Company Painting’ depicts “the city from the exterior of its walls”. Important buildings are “identified in nasta’liq (script) and in English” and in the “foreground a princely procession with elephants and horses departs from an encampment.”
The term ‘Company Paintings’ came in vogue after the fall of the Mughals in the subcontinent. As the painters who used to paint for royal courts were left with no earnings, most of them started working for the British, the new rulers. The British used to commission such paintings to prominent painters of the times.
