This is a finely detailed vintage etching titled “An Augree”, portraying a traditional agrarian scene in rural India, created in 1804 and published in London. The composition features a lone farmer, bare-chested and wearing a simple loincloth and turban, guiding a plow pulled by two yoked oxen. The animals are depicted in motion, suggesting the active tilling of the soil, a crucial moment in the preparation of the land for cultivation. The background includes a minimalist landscape with distant trees, a few hut-like structures, and a singular palm tree that hints at the tropical climate. The sky is rendered with etched horizontal lines and swirling cloud forms, adding texture and atmosphere to the scene. The word “Augree” is likely an anglicized form of a regional term for an agricultural laborer or ploughman. The etching is signed “I. Baugé” in the bottom right corner, indicating the artist. The overall tone of the artwork is pastoral and respectful, offering a glimpse into the everyday labor and traditional farming techniques of rural India during the colonial era. The craftsmanship, with its delicate linework and tonal variation, suggests this was produced as part of a broader 18th or 19th-century effort to document and romanticize colonial subjects and landscapes.

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