Colonial Shades

AN EXHIBITION OF COMPANY PAINTINGS AT DAG DELHI SHOWS A SUBSTANTIVE DIALOGUE BETWEEN INDIAN AND EUROPEAN ART

- Aditya Mani Jha

The humble custard apple ('shareefa' or 'sitaphal' in Hindi) is cherished across north India for its intense sugary taste and the zing it adds to otherwise strait-laced desserts. But before I saw several 18th-century gouache-on-paper paintings of the fruit, drawn in the style of European botanical drawings, I had never quite realised the geometric elegance of its honeycomb-like form. The works are on display at Delhi's DAG, a part of their ongoing exhibition 'A Treasury of Life: Indian Company Paintings c. 1790-1835' (on till July 5). As the name suggests, these 'Company paintings' (nearly 200 o