A Syce (Groom) Holding Two Carriage Horses, attributed to Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Karraya (active 1830s–40s), ca. 1845, India, Calcutta. Opaque watercolor on paper. H. 12 in. (30.5 cm) W. 20 in. (50.8 cm). Louis E. and Theresa S. Seley Purchase Fund for Islamic Art and Rogers Fund, 1994. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.280 © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Many of the East India Company officers who commissioned paintings during the nineteenth century sought a visual record of their own households, including animals, possessions, and servants. Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Karraya specialized in such paintings and depicted these subjects with a naturalism that is both dignified and poetic. In this work the artist has painted a syce, or groom, symmetrically flanked by almost identical horses.

This work is exhibited in the "Company School Painting in India (ca. 1770–1850)" exhibition, on view through September 16th, 2016.