The painting, which is currently in the collection the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was commissioned by Claude Martin as part of a series of 658 ornithological paintings.

The painting depicts a Woolly-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus), a large wading bird that includes the Indian subcontinent in its range.

[1] Done in watercolor on European paper, the work was produced by an unknown Indian artist, in what is known as the Company style.

The work is traceable to a series of 658 paintings of birds that the French-born Major-General Claude Martin commissioned for his private collection.

[3] This Metropolitan Museum of Art article is a stub.