A Man Riding on a Donkey 1840 - 1850

This watercolor painting of a man riding on a donkey is currently held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was likely made in India, though its artist is unknown. The work depicts a man with a top hat and western style clothing riding a donkey carrying what appears to be textiles. It resembles Company paintings made by Indian artists for European patrons in the 18th and 19th centuries. These paintings often depicted scenes of everyday life or studies of local flora and fauna, reflecting the interests of the East India Company officials and other Europeans living in India at the time. The presence of the European man atop the animal implies the impact of British colonialism on the Indian subcontinent, and how it shaped the local artistic production. By exploring archival sources, like the East India Company records, personal diaries, and collections of Company paintings, we can reveal more about this piece and better understand its social context.