A toddy-tapper
1805
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1805
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
A toddy-tapper is a 1805 paint by Sewak Ram, a Patna School of Painting work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a man tapping a tree to collect a sweet, sticky liquid. The man is a toddy tapper, and his job is to collect this liquid from palm trees. This type of work was common in India, and the painting gives us a glimpse into everyday life there. The artist used simple, clear lines to depict the scene, and you can learn more about this style by looking into the work of artists associated with the movement: Romanticism.
The painting depicts a toddy tapper engaged in the process of extracting fermented palm sap, likely from a palmyra or date palm, in a rural Indian setting. Created around 1805 by Sewak Ram, a known artist from Patna, the work is executed in watercolour and features a brown and gold-flecked fawn border with a blue rule. Company paintings such as this were produced by Indian artists for British patrons during the East India Company’s territorial rule.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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