Transporting Field Cannons
These drawings were intended to serve as cartoons for murals, probably within the palace at Kota. Each depicts five field cannons mounted on gun carriages, which are drawn by teams of bullocks. Elephants, empathetically rendered by the artist, assist by pushing from behind. The gunners who ride atop the cannons––treated in the manner of mahouts (keepers) atop their prized elephants—wear broad-brimmed hats identifying them as European mercenaries. There are numerous contemporary accounts of such firangis (literally “Frankish,” meaning Western foreigners) being employed by Indian maharajas as military advisers and strategists. Others served as gunners, including those skilled in the casting and deployment of cannons. Here we see an artillery detachment on the move, presumably part of a larger composition depicting an army campaign.
Artwork Details
- Title: Transporting Field Cannons
- Date: mid-18th century
- Culture: India, Kota, Rajasthan
- Medium: Opaque watercolor and ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 50 × 53 1/8 in. (127 × 135 cm)
Framed: 61 3/4 × 60 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (156.8 × 154.3 × 3.2 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, by exchange, 2022
- Object Number: 2022.232
- Rights and Reproduction: Photo © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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