Bidspirit auction | Johann Zoffany

Johann Zoffany - Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match at Lucknow in the Province of Oude, in the Year 1786'. A Definitive Event in Indian Colonial History: Cock Fight Match at Lucknow in 1786 Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match at Lucknow in the Province of Oude, in the Year 1786 by Johann Zoffany Large hand colored mezzotint, At which were present several High and Distinguished Personages, Published by Robert Sayer, Fleet Street, London, 1792. Large mezzotint of Johan Zoffany’s famous painting depicting a cock match between Asad-uf-daula, Nawab Wazir of Oudh, and Colonel John Mordaunt (both stood in the centre gesturing to one another). Zoffany’s painting was commissioned by Warren Hastings, 1st Governor-General of Bengal in 1784 and dispatched to him in England in 1788. Asaf’s court at Lucknow was extravagant, and this scene portrays several key figures of the court: Asaf’s Swiss engineer Colonel Antoine Polier, the East India Company’s Lucknow paymaster John Wombwell, the notorious French adventurer Claud Martin, and Zoffany himself alongside fellow artist Ozias Humphrey. After falling from favour in England, Zoffany moved to India and this picture demonstrates how he turned modified the style of ‘conversation piece’ with which he made his name, to his new surroundings. Framed. Sheet size: 46 x 59 cm (18 x 23 inches) Plate size: 49.5 x 68 cm (19.5 x 27 inches) Good Condition Provenance: Keywords: India, Indian colonial, Early, Cock Fight, Lucknow, Oude