THREE HAND-COLOURED LITHOGRAPHS FROM EMILY EDEN'S (1797 - 1869) PORTRAITS OF THE PRINCES AND PEOPLE OF INDIA
J. Dickinson & Son, London, 1844

Comprising three hand-coloured lithographed plates on paper mounted on card, printed by Lowes Dickinson after the compilation of observations and sketches produced by the amateur artist and writer Emily Eden during her travels in India, the first plate portraying a young good-looking prince [plate 10] from the northern Hill provinces, possibly Punjab or Himachal Pradesh, holding a tulwar sword and arrow in his hands, a hand-written note in sepia ink on the back of the frame identifying him as a young boy from 'one of the petty states...around Simla', and giving further information about the tensions between the inhabitants of these mountainous regions of India and the neighbouring Nepalese people, 61cm x 46.5cm including the frame; another similar with a party of falconers and an attendant with hunting dogs [plate 11], the note at the back of the frame identifying them as people from Awadh (Oudh), Lucknow region, bearing gifts from the Awadh Maharaja to the British Governor General given their close and amicable terms, 62cm x 52cm including the frame; and the last one with a dark-skinned Hindu hermit or faqir [plate 3], with long matted hair and a thick beard, wearing a plain white long gown and green scarf, standing in a mountainous surrounding, the note in pencil at the back reading A Fakir, from a drawing March 1839 Plate 3 Hon. Emily Eden (1797-1869), 44.5cm x 34.5cm including the frame; and the loose, unbound original morocco-backed portfolio, upper cover blocked in gilt Hon. E. Eden's/India, with a vignette illustration of a snake coiled around an egg, 56.2cm x 46.5cm.

The Hon. Emily Eden (1797 - 1869) was an English poet, writer, novelist and amateur painter, remembered for her witty accounts of English life and adventurous travels in India in the early 19th century. Sister of Lord Auckland, she accompanied her unmarried brother to India in 1836, after he was appointed Governor General. During her travels, Eden sketched the people and places they visited, writing detailed annotations of her impressions and local traditions. Among her most famous portraits are those of the Sikh rulers of Punjab, especially the one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, whom she met in November 1838. Upon her return to England in 1842, Eden arranged to have her images printed privately as a portfolio of 24 lithographs, and the Portraits was then published in 1844. Most copies were issued uncoloured, except for a few beautifully hand-coloured copies, of which the present plates must have originally been part. In recent years, Eden's lithographed plates have achieved considerable success at auction, please see Christie's London, 22 April 2010, lot 138; and the upcoming 13 July 2023, lot 154; and lastly, Bonhams London, 23 October 2018, lot 208.