Calcutta School, circa 1800

This crane is found in marshes, flooded fields and swamps of southern Asia, particularly northern India, and in coastal northern Australia.

Stylistically the present drawing bears a strong resemblance to the studies of the birds that belonged to the travel writer George Annesley, 10th Viscount Valentia (1769-1844), which were exhibited by Cary Welch in Room for Wonder, 1978 (New York, The Asia Society, nos. 18 a-c). One of these drawings was shown at Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, Indian Paintings for British Patrons 1770-1860, 1991, no. 11., as attributed to Gurudayal, an artist who worked at the menagerie at Barrackpore.