Around 1777, Sarah Stone was employed by Sir Ashton Lever (1729-1788)-a collector and businessman and the owner of a museum of natural history and ethnography in Leicester Square, London. The seventeen-year-old artist was tasked with making watercolor studies of the museum's ornithological, zoological, and ethnographical holdings, many of which were obtained during British expeditions in the 1770s and 1780s. The subject of this work, the greater racket-tailed drongo, is native to Asia and distinguished by its elongated outer tail feathers. Working with a fine brush, Stone brilliantly captured the bird's iridescent bluish-black plumage. Although the artist received a degree of early success and recognition, her output slowed dramatically after her marriage in 1789. This drawing to served as the basis for an engraved illustration in John Latham's “Supplement to The General Synopsis of Birds” (London, 1787). Although the bird was described by Linnaeus in 1766 as "Dicrurus paradiseus," Latham misidentified ir as a Malabar Shrike, latinizing the name to "Lanius malabaricus."
Signed and dated at lower center in pen and black ink, "Sarah Stone: 1782"; inscribed (by the artist?) at upper left in pen and brown ink, "Malabar Shrike. Sapa:"; at upper right in pen and brown ink, "Lanius Malabaricus. La:."
Watermark: none.
Illustration for (work): Latham, John, 1740-1837. Supplement to the General synopsis of birds.
Hobhouse, Niall, former owner.