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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Serranus lanceolatus
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title from caption.
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW003-2-1
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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[between 1801 and 1806] (Creation)
- Creator
- Symonds, Mary, 1772-1854
Physical description area
Physical description
1 painting : watercolour on wove paper ; 31 x 25 cm
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
(1772-1854)
Biographical history
Mary Symonds was born in 1772 in Hereford, England, and is known as an artist and letter-writer. In 1801, she accompanied her older sister, Lady Elizabeth Gwillim, the bird artist, and Elizabeth's husband, Sir Henry Gwillim, to India (modern-day Chennai). Both sisters wrote home often about their activities, with vivid descriptions of daily life in India, as well as commentary on Indian culture. Mary particularly enjoyed the many social invitations of British life in Madras during the Company Raj. Like her sister, Mary also painted and some of her works, including those of fish, are part of the works donated by Casey A. Wood to the Blacker Wood Collection at McGill’s Rare Book Library. After her sister died in 1807, Mary and her brother-in-law sailed back to England. In 1809 Mary married John Ramsden, captain of the ship on which she had returned from India.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Painting showing a side view of single fish in yellow and brown; blue wash underneath.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Purchased in London in 1924 by Casey A. Wood as part of a collection of watercolours and donated to the Blacker-Wood Library of Zoology and Ornithology.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
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Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
-Species name from World Register of Marine Species: Epinephelus lanceolatus
-Common name: Giant grouper
General note
Inscriptions: On drawing: a small number "2" (pencil). On mat: "Attributed to Lady Gwillim (1801–1807) of Madras. See notes on #30 in her handwriting. – C.A.W." (pencil).