In between the mid-1700s and the mid-1800s, India came almost entirely under the control of the British East India Company. Many artists who had previously worked for Indian patrons, in this period began to receive commissiones from officers of the East India Company and their families. The works they produced, often referred to as Company Paintings, bring together European and Indian aesthetics and artistic traditions. Among the most successful of all paintings made for the British in India are a set of paintings made for Sir Elijah and Mary, Lady Impey, in Calcutta (now Kolkata) between 1777 and 1783. The Impeys had a large menagerie and garden and they employed three Mughal-trained artists to paint studies of the plans and animals, including Zayn al-Din. These artists produced at least 326 paintings on large pieces of English paper. The paintings synthesize European natural history painting and Indian aesthetics and techniques, and they bear inscriptions in Urdu and English of the name of the species represented, along with the signature of the artist and name of the patron.

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