The store will not work correctly when cookies are disabled.
We use cookies to make your experience better.To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more about our cookies policy.
The ‘Shah Goest’ was probably a caracal (a medium sized wild cat), which was gifted from the Nawab of Bengal to Robert Clive (1725-1774) the animal then made its way to London as a gift for William Pitt the Elder. Pitt re-gifted it to King George in 1759, who locked it in a cage at the Tower of London. An extract from the ‘Wonderful Magazine’, a periodical founded in 1793, writes of the animal “The keeper was an Indian, and servant to the Nabob of Bengal; when he spoke to it in the Indian language, it would do anything he bade it. A cock coming into the room was seized by the animal and immediately killed it.” Possibly a reprinting or copying an earlier engraving published in a London periodical or similar. The caracal has been hand painted. Unsigned. On laid.
Condition
The condition is typical for a picture of this age including some discolouration. The engraving is slightly skewed and a very minor portion of the engraving has been cropped at the upper left edge. The plate line is still visible.
Size
10.8 x 17.1cm (4.3" x 6.7")Sheet: 14.2 x 22cm (5.6" x 8.7")
