Live Auction 5809Travel, Science & Natural History
Christie’s roundel
Lot 52

Lieutenant James Rattray (fl.1840s)

Interior of the City of Kandahar, from the House of the Sirdar 'Meer dil Khaun' Brother of the King of Caubul

Closed15 October 2009

Price Realised

GBP 5,000

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Lieutenant James Rattray (fl.1840s)
Interior of the City of Kandahar, from the House of the Sirdar 'Meer dil Khaun' Brother of the King of Caubul
pencil watercolour and gouache on paper, heightened with white
10¾ x 15 1/8in. (27.3 x 38.3cm.)

Specialist note

James Rattray sketched Kandahar in December 1841 from the rooftop of the former residence of the province's governor, Sirdar Meer Dil Khaun, who was brother to the Emir. Pictured on the left is the tomb of Ahmed Shah Durrani and on the right the Bala Hissar (fort) and citadel. Rattray wrote that Kandahar, a Durrani capital, was situated in a well-cultivated and fertile irrigated plain circled by mountains: 'Every hill and building around rejoices in some singular title and each has its legend'.