File:Hookah - Unknown - 19 1927 2 87.jpg

The hookah, also known as a shisha or narghile, originally used for smoking hashish rather than tobacco which was introduced to Persia around 1600. The leaf is burned with hot charcoal in the upper bowl and the smoke is sucked through the hosepipe after passing through water in the lower vessel.

This wonderful painting is perhaps of a somewhat idealised hookah fit for the Moghul emperor. It would have been made of gold embossed jade or green glass, with the hose of birch bark or leather, embroidered with crimson silk and gold thread.

This painting is part of local amateur botanist Richard Cresswell’s (1815-1882) collection. It is one of 86 Indian paintings (mostly botanical) and dates to the early 1800s.

Between the late 18th and mid-19th centuries, the British East India Company extended its control over much of the Indian subcontinent. Keen to exploit and export valuable natural commodities, the Company set out to record the flora and fauna of India. It commissioned Indian artists to create detailed illustrations but officials rarely recorded their names. British scientists supervised the work and paper from England, made by companies such as Whatman, was imported for use.

Responding to British patronage, Indian artists developed a new style of painting, mixing Indian and European traditions. This has come to be known as the ‘Company School’ art and these paintings belong to that broad tradition. It was common for officials (who were not employed as medics or botanists) to build their own personal collections of paintings. The flora and fauna depicted was sometimes from their own gardens and menageries.

We cannot be sure how Richard Cresswell came by this collection of Company School works. It is plausible they came to him via his wife’s family. Frances Creighton (1821-1904) was born in Bengal where her father, Robert (1797-1827), was a judge. Research suggests that his father was Henry Creighton (1764-1807). Charles Grant, a senior Company official, appointed Henry manager of an indigo factory at Guamalati. He is best known for his research and paintings on the ruins at Gaur. It is possible Henry commissioned the botanical drawings and they were passed down through the family. However, research has not yet uncovered any evidence for this connection.