The interior of the palace at Madura, with the District Collector conducting business, Company School, Madura, South India, circa 1840, pencil and watercolour on paper, inscribed to reverseProvenance: Private Collection J.P. Losty (1945-2021)An almost identical version of this painting was sold at Bonhams, India in Art, 7 June 2022, Lot 15.The Tamukkam Palace at Madura (modern Madurai), a few hundred miles from Madras, was originally built, circa 1670, as the summer palace of the Rani Mangammal, queen regent of the Nadu kingdom. It was later occupied by the Nawab of the Carnatic, and after that by the East India Company from 1801, functioning as the official residence of the District Collector. From 1959 the palace became the Mahatma Gandhi Museum. With its distinctive ogee arches and massive pillars, it was also depicted by Thomas and William Daniell in the late 18th Century.For a group of four Company School works depicting the exterior of the palace, and the temples of Minatchy and Vasanta, at Madura, see Sotheby's, Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 29th April 1998, lots 91-94. These too have identifying inscriptions in English. M. Archer noted that aside from its official status Madura was regarded as a centre for Company officials, who were attracted by its monuments and sculpture. An Indian artist, named Ravanath Naik, appears to have worked in tandem with British amateur painters (Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London 1972, p. 52).For another painting by an Indian artist, depicting Pudu Mandapa, opposite the Meenakshi Temple, and in the collection of Conway Mordaunt Shipley, see India and Iran: Works on Paper, Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch, March 2022, no. 25.Please refer to department for condition report