An English Gig - ca. 1840
By Sheikh Muhammad Amir , (Indian, 19th century)

Opaque watercolor on burnished paper
H: 25.3 W: 38.2 cm
Kolkata (Calcutta), East India, India

Sheikh Muhammad Amir of Karraya (a suburb of Calcutta), the greatest of the Calcutta Company School painters, specialized in portraying the domestic lives of the British in India. Collected in albums, his paintings record prized possessions, such as this carefully rendered English gig that testify to British efforts to recreate their customs in an unfamiliar land.

Source: Smithsonian Institution