SIX COMPANY SCHOOL WATERCOLOUR PORTRAITS OF INDIAN PEOPLE AND TRADESMEN
Possibly Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, Eastern India, ca. 1860s – 1880s

Opaque pigments on paper, each circular portrait depicting full-length figures of Indian men and women in traditional dress, the subjects including an elderly wandering dervish with staff and kashkul (begging bowl), a woman balancing two water pots over her head, a fabric merchant, a man holding a large water jar, possibly a water seller, a female ceramic seller or potter, and a musician with a drum, the scenes set in lightly sketched landscapes, the series exemplifying the topographical and documentary qualities characteristic of Company School paintings, a tradition which flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries as Indian artists responded to European patronage under the East India Company, mostly produced for British patrons, the vibrant colours and costumes offering a valuable visual record of traditional Indian social types and trades, attire, caste system, and material culture of the late East India Company and early British Raj period, each set of three mounted, glazed and framed.

69.5cm x 29cm including the frame