Magnificent Indian Grand Tour watercolor of (possibly) the Jaipur Pink Palace interior,presented in a stunning handcarved Victorian period ebony wood frame,c1850
18.5 inches x 13.75 inches.
The painted area is 8.75 inches x 12.75 inches.

Davids notes: Since the Grand Tour started in 1850 with the coronation of Queen Victoria, Americans and English began the somber and exciting trek of traveling through Europe and Asia to see the exotic and jaw dropping examples of art, architecture, sculpture, palaces and oddities across the world that was only whispered about in tea parties and pointed at in the colored engravings and illustrations of magazines and newspapers flooding the Western World. Since India had been conquered by England, the huge country was often a place of travel on the Tour, since it was a wonderful source of tea, rubber, textiles and other natural products, that made their way from the silk route from China. As a boy growing up in the United States in the 20th century, I often ran across the miniature paintings of the Taj Mahal and other famous landmarks of India at antique shops, yard sales ,auction rooms and private collections, but none of them reach the size and magnificence of lot 99 in this auction. Generally these works were limited to about 5 to 7 inches, since the quality and background that these miniatures were painted on were limited to the small material boards of bone and wood that were available to poor Indian merchants. Not only is the painting approximately 5 to 10 times larger than any work of this type that I have seen in my lifetime, the carved ebony wood frame is large as well, and masterfully carved. The quality is superb and the execution is masterful. As is often the case, the work is not signed on the outside, but possible signed inside. We did not take it apart. A museum quality example of this type of work.
Possibly the Jaipur Pink Palace interior.

Great condition overall