Rare Paintings
 29 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
A money changer and pan shop at Pune - 1850

This is one of William Carpenter's earliest Indian paintings. It shows a row of three shops in the Sadr bazaar, Pune (Poona), central India. On the left you can see a liquor shop, and in the centre a 'shroff' or money-lender. On the right is a shop s... Read More
 28 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
This painting depicts a house steward with list of accounts.
Varanasi, India - ca. 1850

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 24 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
Essay:
Traditional writing system in Southern India — Palm Leaf Manuscripts.
By D.Udaya Kumar, G.V.Sreekumar, U. A. Athvankar

Palm leaf manuscript is one of the oldest medium of writing in India especially in Southern India. It is also the major source for writing and painting in South and South... Read More
 20 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
Painting of an astrological chart, made in Rajasthan, mid 19th century

The chart is composed of a circle with Mount Meru and an ocean in the centre and four auspicious animals in the corners. Diagrams of letters and numerals are arranged within the circle.

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 20 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
A fortune-teller reading the palm of a soldier.
Oil painting by Pietro Muttoni called della Vecchia.

Credit: Wellcome Library, London Read More
 19 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
Painting; gouache, An astrologer, Tanjore, ca. 1805

An astrologer. From an album of 36 paintings of trades, occupations and costume depicting a man and his wife of various castes, against background of palm trees and other trees.

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 18 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
An astrologer of the Brahmin caste sits cross legged outside his dwelling with a book in hand, and with charts and texts set out on the ground before him. Watercolour by an Indian artist. 18th century.

Credit: Wellcome Library, London Read More
 13 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
Deccani painting; 'Asavari Ragini' snake charmer, Hyderabad, late 18th century.

The beautiful Asavari, a girl of the Bhil tribe, is clad in a peacock-feathered skirt surrounded by numerous serpents. She is seated stroking a snake, contact with the cooling trunk of the snake relieves the passio... Read More
 6 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
A plant (Hibiscus aculeatus Roxb.) related to China rose: branch with flowers and separate flower, fruits and seeds. Coloured line engraving. India.
By Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot Drakestein
Published: Amsterdam, 1686

Credit: Wellcome Library, London Read More
 6 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
Flowers (Lilies)
Watercolour and gilt on paper
Mughal 17th Century

From album of Indian paintings and calligraphy, dating mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries, containing nature studies, genre scenes, and some Hindu devotional images.

By permission of The Bodleian Library, University ... Read More
 6 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
Painting; Watercolour on ivory, An Indian lady seated by a window against a red blind and holding a flower, Delhi, ca.1860.

Copyright: © V&A Images. Read More
 6 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
An Iris flower
18th century

The central painting on the page is of a mauve and pale yellow iris in full bloom on a short stalk with two ribbed sword-shaped leaves curving upwards under the lower tier of petals. The veining and modelling is painted with fine hatched or stippled strokes togeth... Read More
 5 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
View of Palani near Darapuram - January 1784

Wash drawing of Palani by an unknown artist, January 1784. Inscribed on the front in ink is: 'View of Pallynee or Pynee, a Hill Pagoda of note in the Country of Daraporam with a distant view of the Southern Mountains. Jany 1784'; ditto in ink and: '... Read More
 5 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
The waterfall at Courtallum in the Tinnevelly district - 1804

Plate 3 from the fourth set of Thomas and William Daniell's 'Oriental Scenery,' which they called 'Twenty-four Landscapes.' The views progress northwards from the far south at Cape Comorin to Srinagar in Garhwal in the Himalaya moun... Read More
 4 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
Ellora: Kailasa rock temple panel from the south side of the shrine (left), Door in the third storey in the south side of the court in Kailasa (right) - 1876

Illustrations of a panel and doorway from Kailasanatha [Kailasa] Temple, cave XVI at Ellora from James Burgess' 'Original Drawings [of] ... Read More
 4 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
'Jagannatha Sabha, Indra Sabha'. Engravings by Thomas Daniell after James Wales from (Plans of) Hindoo Excavations in the mountain of Ellora, published Thomas Daniell, London, 1803

Ellora is well-known for its series of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cave temples excavated into the rocky façade of a... Read More
 4 Aug 2012 Rare Paintings
Jagannatha Sabha - 1803

Plate 4 of 'Hindoo Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora near Aurangabad,' engraved by Thomas Daniell after the drawings of his deceased friend James Wales, which Daniell regarded as the sixth set of his 'Oriental Scenery.' Jagannatha Sabha is one of a group of five Jai... Read More
 30 Jul 2012 Rare Paintings
Painting; gouache, Tamil female water carrier, Madras or Tanjore, ca. 1780 - ca. 1800

One of eight paintings in a set supporting the oral tradition that artists from the Deccan went to work in Madras and Tanjore and began to make sets of types and castes which were the prototypes for Tanjore pai... Read More
 30 Jul 2012 Rare Paintings
Front view of Mahishamardani Cave, Mahabalipuram - 1845

Watercolour of the Mahishamardani cave in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, Thomas Colman Dibdin (1810-1893), c.1845.

This drawing is for Dibdin's lithograph which was reproduced as plate 17 in J. Fergusson's 'Illustrations of the rock cut tem... Read More
 30 Jul 2012 Rare Paintings
Scene in a street outside a south Indian temple - 1800

Watercolour of a street scene outside a south Indian temple, by an anonymous artist working in the South India/Madras style, c. 1800-1810.

The scene depicts a large entrance gopura to a Hindu temple that faces a village street. The pain... Read More
 30 Jul 2012 Rare Paintings
The Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram - 1825

Watercolour of the Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, by John Gantz, c. 1825. Inscribed: 'N W View of two ancient Temples by the Seaside. Mahabilipoorum. J. Gantz'.

John Gantz and his son Justinian ran a lithographic press, but are remembered b... Read More