A SET OF POLYCHROME-PAINTED, GILT AND LACQUERED NINETY-SIX MUGHAL GANJIFA PLAYING CARDS WITH LIDDED BOX
Possibly Maharashtra, Central - Western India, 19th century

Comprising ninety-six polychrome-painted, gilt and lacquered playing cards (ganjifa), each of rounded shape, illustrated with a variety of Indian subjects including enthroned Maharajas, riders, acrobats, musicians, and audience scenes, as well as autochtonous animals like tigers, set against alternating red, black, green and orange grounds, the reverse with a chequered grid with clusters of red dots filling the squares, the cards fitted in a rectangular box with sliding lid, polychrome-painted, heightened with gold and lacquered, the sides decorated with courtly processions with camels, elephants and horses, and a tiger hunting scene on the short side, the sliding lid with a courtly interior scene with a crowned princess or queen standing in a white pavilion, in conversation with a male courtier, a gathering of kshattriya warriors in the foreground, another enthroned figure in the upper level of the pavilion, sprays of white flowers decorating the outer borders and edges of the box.

Each token 4.8cm diameter

The box 8cm x 17.5cm x 8cm

The South Asian card game known as Ganjifa first reached India from Iran in the early 16th century and it has remained very popular in India, Pakistan, as well as Iran and Turkey until now. In Mughal times, each complete pack of ganjifa cards had to be eight-suited (Mughal ganjifa). Another similar ganjifa playing set with box successfully sold in these Rooms, 28 October 2024, lot 68.