Untitled (Botanical Study, Breadfruit)

The exotic flora and fauna of tropical India generated great interest among traders of the East India Company, who, after attaining commercial and political ascendancy in the subcontinent, embarked upon creating visual documents of their new, conquered territory. This gave birth to what came to be known as Company Paintings. Breadfruit, a tropical plant with a huge edible fruit—of the same family as jackfruit—was one of the exotic plants that called for documentation as evident in this watercolour, a memento of pre-photography India.