A SET OF EIGHT PRINTS FROM ORIENTAL FIELD SPORTS BY WILLIAMSON & HOWITT
Hand Coloured aquatints on paper
Published by Edward Orme Bond Street August 1st 1807 & by R. Crosby & Co. Stationers Court
Etched by J. Clark
Each 5 x 8 in (12.7 x 20.3 cms)
a) 'Chase after a wolf' (no. 32)
b) 'Killing game in boats' (no.36)
c) 'Hunting an old buffalo' (no. 25)
d) 'Driving bear out of sugar canes' (no. 28)
e) 'Shooting at the edge of the jungle' (no. 27)
f) 'Shooting a leopard in a tree' (no. 23)
g) 'Sices or grooms leading out horses' (no. 38)
h) 'A tiger killed by poisoned arrow' (no.22)
This set of prints is part of the book "Oriental Field Sports" by Samuel Howitt (1752-1822) and Captain Thomas Williamson (1758-1817). Williamson served in a Bengal European Regiment for twenty years until 1798 when he was ordered home for reasons that are still uncertain. Part of the decision was definitely linked to his criticism of the Company's military policy through the publication of a letter in the Calcutta Telegraph and perhaps also because of his liberal views.
"Oriental Field Sports" merged the knowledge of India acquired by Williamson during his time there with the fine pictorial skills of Samuel Howitt. This book is a complete, detailed, and accurate description of the sports of the East, and of Indian wildlife. In addition to the images, curios and original anecdotes complete the descriptions. As Williamson wrote in the preface: the work "is offered to the public as depicting the Manners, Customs, Scenery, and Costume of a territory now intimately blended with the British Empire, and of such importance to its welfare, as to annex a certain degree of consequence to every publication, that either exhibits, or professes to impart, a knowledge of whatever may hitherto have been concealed, or that remains unfolded to our view." The aquatints in the book are dramatic depictions of both the chase and Indian scenery.
Print (a), entitled 'Chase after a wolf', depicts a wolf darting across green plains with a sheep upon its back being pursued by four armed hunters.
Print (b), entitled 'Killing game in boats', depicts a scene of a tiger being hunted by many armed men on boats.
Print (c), entitled 'Hunting an old buffalo', shows indigenous hunters armed with spears and western hunters armed with guns hunting a buffalo from atop elephants.
Print (d), entitled 'Driving bear out of sugar canes' depicts men armed with spears and guns pursuing a wild bear from elephant and horse-back across the Indian countryside.
Print (e), entitled 'Shooting at the edge of the jungle', is a landscape in which hunters are shooting game that is not identified in the back-ground whilst in the foreground a man struggles with two dogs wanting to pursue a rabbit.
Print (f), entitled 'Shooting a leopard in a tree', depicts hunters on elephants shooting at a leopard in a tree whilst hunting dogs claw at the tree below.
Print (g), entitled 'Sices or grooms leading out horses', shows horses being led by reigns out of their stables possibly ready for a hunt.
Print (h), entitled 'A tiger killed by poisoned arrow', depicts a green mountainous landscape with a tiger in the foreground lying helplessly after being fatally wounded by a poisoned arrow.
These items are sold unframed.
Hand Coloured aquatints on paper
Published by Edward Orme Bond Street August 1st 1807 & by R. Crosby & Co. Stationers Court
Etched by J. Clark
Each 5 x 8 in (12.7 x 20.3 cms)
a) 'Chase after a wolf' (no. 32)
b) 'Killing game in boats' (no.36)
c) 'Hunting an old buffalo' (no. 25)
d) 'Driving bear out of sugar canes' (no. 28)
e) 'Shooting at the edge of the jungle' (no. 27)
f) 'Shooting a leopard in a tree' (no. 23)
g) 'Sices or grooms leading out horses' (no. 38)
h) 'A tiger killed by poisoned arrow' (no.22)
This set of prints is part of the book "Oriental Field Sports" by Samuel Howitt (1752-1822) and Captain Thomas Williamson (1758-1817). Williamson served in a Bengal European Regiment for twenty years until 1798 when he was ordered home for reasons that are still uncertain. Part of the decision was definitely linked to his criticism of the Company's military policy through the publication of a letter in the Calcutta Telegraph and perhaps also because of his liberal views.
"Oriental Field Sports" merged the knowledge of India acquired by Williamson during his time there with the fine pictorial skills of Samuel Howitt. This book is a complete, detailed, and accurate description of the sports of the East, and of Indian wildlife. In addition to the images, curios and original anecdotes complete the descriptions. As Williamson wrote in the preface: the work "is offered to the public as depicting the Manners, Customs, Scenery, and Costume of a territory now intimately blended with the British Empire, and of such importance to its welfare, as to annex a certain degree of consequence to every publication, that either exhibits, or professes to impart, a knowledge of whatever may hitherto have been concealed, or that remains unfolded to our view." The aquatints in the book are dramatic depictions of both the chase and Indian scenery.
Print (a), entitled 'Chase after a wolf', depicts a wolf darting across green plains with a sheep upon its back being pursued by four armed hunters.
Print (b), entitled 'Killing game in boats', depicts a scene of a tiger being hunted by many armed men on boats.
Print (c), entitled 'Hunting an old buffalo', shows indigenous hunters armed with spears and western hunters armed with guns hunting a buffalo from atop elephants.
Print (d), entitled 'Driving bear out of sugar canes' depicts men armed with spears and guns pursuing a wild bear from elephant and horse-back across the Indian countryside.
Print (e), entitled 'Shooting at the edge of the jungle', is a landscape in which hunters are shooting game that is not identified in the back-ground whilst in the foreground a man struggles with two dogs wanting to pursue a rabbit.
Print (f), entitled 'Shooting a leopard in a tree', depicts hunters on elephants shooting at a leopard in a tree whilst hunting dogs claw at the tree below.
Print (g), entitled 'Sices or grooms leading out horses', shows horses being led by reigns out of their stables possibly ready for a hunt.
Print (h), entitled 'A tiger killed by poisoned arrow', depicts a green mountainous landscape with a tiger in the foreground lying helplessly after being fatally wounded by a poisoned arrow.
These items are sold unframed.