Lot 505
AFTER HENRY SINGLETON (1766-1839)
SCARCITY IN INDIA
Stipple engraving printed in colour, engraved by C. Knight and Bartolotti [Bartolozzi?], published by Charles Knight, c.1794
50.5 x 40cm.
* This subject, the pair to `British Plenty`, shows two Englishmen bargaining gewgaws with a rural Indian girl. The title alludes to the widespread poverty in India and to the comparative `rewards` (monetary and otherwise) that may be available to a woman. The innuendo was considered delightfully risque in the Georgian era, despite the unsavoury implications that it invites today. Singleton never visited India but he recognised the burgeoning demand for anything associated with the subcontinent.
