Colonel Mordaunt`s Cock Match

1794

Hand-coloured mezzotint on paper

18 x 25.75 in   |  45.7 x 65.1 cm

Publisher: Laurie and Whittle, 1794

The present print derives from the original oil painting by Johann Zoffany which hangs in the Tate Gallery. Zoffany painted the work when he worked as a court painter for the Indian Governor of Oudh, Asaf-ad-duala, between 1783 and 1786.

The present lot is set in Lucknow and depicts an ongoing cock fight between birds belonging to Asaf-ud-Daula, the Nawab Wazir of Awadh, and Colonel John Mordaunt, an East India Company employee. This print of the painting is bursting with animated figures, both Indian and British, that are designed to draw in the viewer, and also includes recognisable historical personalities such as the owners of the fighting birds, Salar Jung, Haider Ali Khan, Hasan Reza Khan, Claude Martin, and Zoffany himself sitting with his arm over a chair in the right background, dressed in white evening wear like Mordaunt.

Created during a time when the East India Company was steadily increasing its commercial and military presence in the region, the present lot has been called "an historical picture" (Mary Webster, Johan Zoffany, London: Yale University Press, 2011, p. 509) by the artist, i.e., a narrative image to commemorate an important event, and not just an observational scene.

Another rendition of this scene is said to have been owned by the Nawab, which was painted by an Indian artist. This version was, however, believed to have been destroyed during the capture of Lucknow by the British forces during the Revolt of 1857.

This work will be shipped unframed

NON-EXPORTABLE