This collection of drawings and watercolours comprises of 40 depictions, each of a detail of religious architecture, such as ornamentation or a sculpture of a deity. The collection is accompanied by a note in English that reads “These drawings of Indian heathen temples & idols were done by a native artist and given to me by the Rev Symons (?) of Madras”, suggesting that they were commissioned by a British resident of colonial India to be drawn by a local artist, in the tradition of the “Company School” of painting. From the late 18th century, British patrons interested in recording the people, flora, fauna and architecture of the Indian subcontinent, hired local artists to render illustrations of these subjects, in a style that collectively has come to be known as the Company School or Company style.
