Embassy of Hyderbeck to Calcutta. From the Vizier of Oude, by way of Patna, in the Year 1788, to meet Lord Cornwallis

12 July 1800

Later hand-coloured mezzotint on paper

19.5 x 25.75 in (49.5 x 65.5 cm)

This lively and extraordinary scene published by Robert Laurie & James Whittle from a painting by Zoffany shows a diplomatic procession in 1788 in which the Nawab, ruler of the princely state of Oudh in North India, sends his minister Haidar Beg Khan (‘Hyderbeck’ in the print title) on a mission to meet the newly arrived British colonial governor-general of India, Lord Charles Cornwallis in Calcutta. The mission’s purpose was primarily to negotiate a reduction in contributions paid to the East India Company by the Nawab (ruler) of Oudh.

However, the main subject of the picture is not Haider Beg Khan himself, who can just be made out under an umbrella on a distant elephant in the van, but the multitude of Indian people, either forming part of the train or watching it. Zoffany depicts a startling yet darkly comic moment by depicting in the center of the print, a male baggage elephant who has grabbed its ‘mahout’ (or elephant worker) from his seat and dangles him from its trunk, as other passengers, including women and children, fall off its back.

Meanwhile, on the second elephant is Sir John Kennaway, the Company’s interpreter at Lucknow or, more correctly Capt. Kennaway, aide-de-camp to Lord Cornwallis, is calling out to the mahout of the second elephant, whose perch also looks precarious. The wry humor comes from the sensory overload of activity around this scene, as an assortment of Indian and European soldiers, travelers, missionaries, Hindu ascetics, vegetable sellers, and beggars share the road, many of them indifferent to the unfolding drama involving the elephant.

The foreground is occupied by a row of animated figures, beginning with the left hand of the picture: “Young Hindoos coming from bathing,” woman bringing water from the Ganges, a Brahmin, (with his back turned to the spectator) a girl (seated) selling vegetables, a Mogul soldier, “a native sepoy pacaloming or obliging a peasant to carry arms’ a faquier, “a radish girl,’ a Hindoo, “a young Persian,” bearers or coolies carrying bedding, “a native soldier,” a Delhi soldier, and a mola or priest.”

Zoffany portrays himself on horseback on the right by the side of the second elephant. He is accompanied by his horse-keeper who is also riding and by an attendant who always keeps pace with his horse.

In the left background one can see cavalcade been marching in the rear of the Company’s troops, towards Patna, which can be discerned in the distance, a conspicuous object in the background being the famous golah or granary erected by order of Warren Hastings for storing grain against times of famine.

Haider Beg does not appear to be shown, but an elephant seen from behind on the left is labelled "Hyderbeck's swarie" in a separate key: "swarie" is not further defined, but the implication seems to be that Haider Beg is in that area of the picture.

Patna, where the scene is represented as having taken place, is roughly equidistant between Lucknow, where the embassy presumably started, and Calcutta, its destination: the distance between Patna and either of the other cities is about 450-600 kilometers

This engraving by Richard Earlom was made after the painting Zoffany exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1796. The painting is now in the collection of the Victoria Memorial Museum in Kolkata.

This work will be shipped unframed

NON-EXPORTABLE