Skip to main content

RARE INDIAN ITEM ON SALE

A large Company School album of watercolours of costumes, craftsmen, trades and processions in India providing a fascinating insight into the culture of the early 1800s will go under the hammer in LONDON next month and is expected to fetch anything between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds. This album is remarkable for the size, quality and range of subjects of the watercolours, the auction house said. It will be sold in Sotheby's Arts of the Islamic World sale on April 24. In an era before cameras and photography, administrators, officials and visitors to the East India Company would commission such albums, painted by local Indian artists to bring back and show their friends and relatives. Superior to the majority of similar related productions of Company patronage, the album is remarkable for both its size and quality, and also for its uncommon subject matter. Alongside depictions of craftsmen, processions, dancers and contemporary costumes, the album also contains a self- portrait showing the artist at work. Among other characters illustrated are a fisherman, doctor, barber, goldsmith, a dressing servant and dancing girls. All in all, the album includes 35 large sheets bound in their original leather covers. The album contains some interesting and rare portraits. The focus of the album as well as its pictorial style is the southern and eastern regions of India. A very similar album is in the India Office Collections in the British Library here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GARBLED TEXT MESSAGE A SIGN OF STROKE

Difficulty or inability to write a coherent text message, even in people who have no problem speaking, may become a "vital" tool in diagnosing a type of crippling stroke, according to a new research. Scientists at Henry Ford Hospital focused on a 40-year-old man visiting the metro Detroit area on business who showed signs of "dystextia," a recently coined term for incoherent text messaging that can sometimes be confused with autocorrect garble. But in his case, the man saw nothing wrong with the garble. The patient had no problem with a routine bedside test of his language abilities - including fluency of speech, reading, writing, comprehension and other factors. However, when asked to type a simple text message, he not only produced garble, but he was unable to see it as such. Despite showing only slight facial asymmetry and no other symptoms, doctors determined the man had suffered an acute ischemic stroke, in which a clot or other blockage cuts off blood supply t...
Post a Comment
Read more

YOGA IN MID AIR

With the stage set for International Yoga Day this Sunday, yoga asanas were performed mid-air at 35,000 feet above the sea-level, arguably the first time ever! The asanas called Upayoga or useful yoga were performed as a trial-run aboard the Delhi-Guwahati and Guwahati-Delhi flights of budget airline SpiceJet with over 180 passengers and crew. The Gurgaon-based carrier has teamed up with Isha Foundation of Sadhguru to conduct mid-air yoga sessions on its select Boeing flights on Sunday, which is being observed as International Yoga Day. Talking about the yogic postures demonstrated, Gita, a teacher with the Isha Foundation said the session was designed to reduce stress for passengers who travel long hours. "These are safe, simple postures which can be done by anyone, and can be practiced anytime and anywhere. They help in relieving stress accumulated in the upper neck and spine region," Gita told PTI. The passengers on board, who had no clue about the onboard yoga demonstr...
Post a Comment
Read more

WILL NIFTY FALL BELOW 2000?

Correlating the ups and down in the Indian rupee with the stock market, Vijay Bhambwani, CEO, bsplindia.com, suggests that if the rupee continues with its downward fall, the Indian stock market may fall breach October lows and fall further. “If the rupee falls below the 53.0-53.50 mark vis-a-vis the USD, expect a mini meltdown atleast in the equity markets. In that case, the 2250 level (on Nifty) will be breached easily to form a new low. The possibility of that low being below the 2000 levels on the Nifty spot is fairly high,” he says. Bhambwani supports his outlook by comparing the value of rupee at the time of October lows. “The October 2008 lows were made with the INR at 51.20 - 51.40 band. The rupee has breached the 52 level since then. Clearly the nation’s ‘share price’ (currency) indicates weakness. The curency market is a far more accurate barometer of the nation’s health compared to the equity indices. Whether you like it or not, we are under siege. Had it not been March (NAV ...
Post a Comment
Read more