Nearly 2,595 paintings of Indian plants were created for the Central National Herbarium in Kolkata in 1795. Unfortunately, not much is known about the Indian artists responsible for these drawings On a bracing Kolkata morning amidst the winter dahlias, William Dalrymple made his silks-and-jholas audience cringe and then preen.
First, he rubbed their noses in the shame of Bengal’s most illustrious families having “collaborated" with the rapacious East India Company.
Next he made them rub their eyes in awe as he presented “the unknown treasure trove in your midst": slide upon slide of jewel-like nature art in the collection of the Central National Herbarium (CNH), hidden in the 273-acre Botanical Gardens on the city’s fringe.