Portrait of East India Company official
Place of origin: Murshidabad
Date: ca. 1760 - ca. 1764
Artist: Dip Chand

The pictures made by Indian artists for the British in India are called Company paintings. This one probably depicts William Fullerton of Rosemount, who joined the East India Company's service in 1744 and was second surgeon in Calcutta in 1751. He was present at the siege of Calcutta in 1756 and became mayor of Calcutta in 1757. In 1763 Fullerton became a surgeon to the Patna Agency. An excellent linguist, he clearly mixed with Indians more than was common and had one or more Indian bibis (mistresses).

Indigenous habits such as 'huqqa'-smoking and eating 'pan' (betel) had been adopted by many British residents in India. However the surgeon William Fullerton mixed unusually freely with Indians and set up house in the native quarter of Patna. Thanks to his friendship with Nawab Mir Qasim he alone survived the massacre of Europeans there in 1763. Fullerton was a collector of paintings and it is likely that the Murshidabad artist Dip Chand painted a number of pictures for him when visiting Patna with the Nawab's court.

Soure : V&A, London