SIGNED BY MUHAMMAD AMIR OF KARRAYA, CALCUTTA, INDIA, CIRCA 1840

Writing about Shaykh Muhammad Amir of Karraya, Stuart Cary Welch praised "his gently lyrical, accurately detailed, immaculately finished gouaches. Often touched by humour and whimsy … his pictures also contain elements of sadness" (Welch 1978, p.68) In the present painting the immaculately finished stallion appears alert and engaged, whilst his groom seems to stare wistfully into the distance. Other than the main subject of the stallion and groom, it is interesting to note the outbuilding in the background. The door stands ajar and through it we glimpse two men, possibly other grooms or stable hands, in conversation. The inclusion of such details, especially figures, outside of the immediate foreground is extremely rare in Shaykh Muhammad Amir's known works.

Whilst it is not immediately clear who this painting was originally commissioned for, an inscription on the reverse in pencil identifies that it was formerly in the collection of Lowther Castle, Cumbria, which is the estate of the Earls of Lonsdale. The house was previously called Lowther Hall but rebuilt as a mock medieval castle in 1806. Given the date of our painting it possibly entered the Lowther castle collection during the time of William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale (d. 1872) who inherited the castle in 1844. William Lowther was a prominent collector of antiquities and ancient works of art and so it is conceivable that he also acquired paintings for the castle's collection.