A syce (groom) stands with an officer's horse from the 8th Madras Light Cavalry, a background with bare rocky landscape and fort at Trichinoply - c1840

Medium: Opaque water colour on paper
In 1838 the 8th Madras Light Cavalry regiment was called to Calcutta and this probably explains the painting's being in the manner of Shaikh Muhammad Amir, the leading exponent of the Anglo-Indian style there. Common to some of Shaikh Muhammad Amir's productions are the distinctively curved shadows cast by horse and groom and similar silhouette-like tufts and blades of grass bordering lower edge. However this painting is more freely painted than were his and lacks his trademark miniaturistic hyper-realism not to mention his remarkable technical expertise. However, he was known to have employed artists to work in his style, and undoubtedly other individual artists followed suit with growth in demand amongst the many wealthy British residents and vistors to Calcutta

Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk