A Company Period painting of a sedan chair with bearers

This company school painting depicting the ‘Merchant being transported by Bearers’ is representing the British influence on art as well as the way natives travelled in India. Company School paintings emerged under the connoisseurship of British East India Company during 18th and 19th Century India. As the British Artists travelled across the country they encountered exotic lifestyle of people, exquisite monuments, landscaping etc. Based on these themes they wanted to capture these images and send them home. For this purpose travellers had to hire Indian painters. This kind of work developed by these artists undertaken in European style came to be known as ‘Company School Painting’. This school lost its momentum with the coming of photography in 1840's.

The style of Sedan Chair shown in the painting marks the influence of the English litters.