Article:
Conservation of Indian Mica Paintings
By Mike Wheeler
Senior Paper Conservator, Paper Conservation, V&A
The V&A has a collection of about seven hundred paintings on mica originating from India which include examples from Murshidabad, Patna and Benares in eastern India and from Tric...
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Watercolour painting on paper of Hanumān. Hanumān stands on the banks of a body of water. He wears green shorts and has a pink shawl draped over his shoulder and chest. He wears a crown and jewel encrusted armlets. On his chest rests a floral garland and necklaces. He holds...
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Watercolour painting on paper of Mandodari wife of Ravaṇa, seated on a cushioned plinth and looking to her left. She holds a flower in her right hand. She wears jewellery, garlands and lavish textiles. Two columns are shown behind Mandodari and in the far distance as line of trees. The painting i...
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Watercolour painting on paper of Ahalya, the wife of the seer Gautama, seated on a plinth with a back, on a terrace with a building behind her. A covered doorway is also shown. She wears lavish textiles and jewellery and holds a flower in her right hand. In front of the plinth is a vase with flow...
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A howdah decorated with the fish of Oudh, lion and antelope - ca.1840
Lucknow, India
This furniture, like much of the furniture designed for the nawabs and kings of Oudh, was strongly influenced by the designs of Robert Home (1752-1834), who worked as a retained court-artist to Ghazi ud-Din ...
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Muslim festival at a tomb of a saint, Murshidabad, ca. 1795 - ca. 1805
Murshidabad, India
Painting; gouache.
This is one of a group of nine paintings. They depict a durbar (public reception) at the Murshidabad court, and various Hindu and Muslim festivals and religious scenes. A Murshidabad ...
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Gouache painting on paper, part of an album of seventy paintings of Indian deities. Viṣṇu reclines on the coils of the five-hooded Shesha (also known as Ananta). In his left hand he carries a bow, while his right hand supports his head. From Viṣṇu’s navel sprout...
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Ink and wash drawing on European paper of the puja (worship) of Alagiyamanavala in the Tirumamani mandapa on Vaikuntha ekadashi festival. The puja is taking place in a pillared hall opposite a mandapa fashioned like a chariot drawn by two horses. Several priests...
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'North side of Trichinopoly Fort and Rock different caste people washing in the Cauvery river.' - 1800
Gouache on paper
View of the Rock at Trichinopoly; in the foreground, an elephant is being washed and men and women are bathing, washing their clothes, and performing 'puja' in the Cauvery...
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Painting; gouache on mica, The procession of Jemboonadasawmy, Trichinopoly, ca.1850
This picture comes from a set of 75 mica paintings in four albums. They depict Hindu deities and festival processions with decorated cars. They are mounted on paper with an 1851 watermark and appeared at the Gr...
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