Rare Paintings
 6 Jan 2013 Rare Paintings
Sir Bala Rama Varma (1857–1924), Maharaja of Travancore
By K. P. Tampy

Date painted: 1895
Oil on canvas, 129.5 x 98 cm

Collection: University of Oxford Read More
 6 Jan 2013 Rare Paintings
Tellicherry, Kerala
By Samuel Scott and George Lambert

Date painted: c.1731
Oil on canvas, 78.5 x 117 cm

A large goods shed stands near the shore and a few houses are visible behind and at the side. To the left is the fort, from a bastion of which flies the Union Jack.

Shipping in the foregro... Read More
 6 Jan 2013 Rare Paintings
Portrait of a Young Priest
By Ramaswamy Naidu
Signed, inscribed and dated 'R. RAMA SAMY NAIDOO TREVANDRUM 1877' (lower right)
Oil on canvas

Ramaswamy Naidu was a contemporary of Raja Ravi Varma and was the court artist of Travancore. Naidu was trained both in the traditional style and in... Read More
 5 Jan 2013 Rare Paintings
"Three Nayar Girls of Travancore" by Ramaswami Naidu, oil on canvas, 1872, Kerala.

Copyright: © V&A Images Read More
 4 Jan 2013 Rare Paintings
Éléphants du Radja de Travancor, Trivandrum - May 1841

Lithograph of the Raja of Tranvancore's elephants at Trivandrum in Kerala by L.H. de Rudder (1807-1881) after an original drawing of May 1841 by Prince Aleksandr Mikhailovich Saltuikov published in 1848. Prince Saltuikov visited Trivandrum... Read More
 3 Jan 2013 Rare Paintings
A feast: a Muslim nobleman and followers, seated on the ground with trays of food before them, being entertained by dancing-girls and musicians - ca. 1774

Faizabad, India
Watercolour

Gentil; Manuscripts, Col J B J Gentil, Faizabad, ca. 1774. Page number 5. A feast.

Copyright: © V&A Images Read More
 3 Jan 2013 Rare Paintings
Ladies feasting and drinking wine - 18th century
Opaque watercolour and gold on paper

The painting shows a group of ladies and their female attendants at leisure under an orange awning fixed to a pavilion on a terrace within a garden setting with trees in the background and grass in front. Th... Read More
 1 Jan 2013 Rare Paintings
Illustrations of Tibetan materia medica, plant and animal, used in the production of medicine.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London Read More
 24 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
A Study of a Head of a Koonbie
Khandala, India
Date: ca. 1869
Artist/Maker: Griffiths, John, born 1837 - died 1918
Watercolour, tinted paper

John Griffiths was born in 1837. He studied at the Royal College of Art and then worked under Godfrey Sykes on the decorative work for the South Kensingto... Read More
 21 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
The Chaunsath Khambe (Pavilion of Sixty-four pillars) containing the tomb of Atga Khan - 1823

Watercolour of the Chaunsath Khambe (Pavilion of Sixty-four pillars) containing the tomb of A'zam Khan Kokah in Delhi and by a Delhi artist, c. 1820-25. Inscribed in Persian characters: 'Naqshah i maq... Read More
 21 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
A Gateway near Humayun's Tomb leading to the Shrine of Nizamuddin - 1843

[From 'Reminiscences of Imperial Delhi’, an album consisting of 89 folios containing approximately 130 paintings of views of the Mughal and pre-Mughal monuments of Delhi, as well as other contemporary material, with an ac... Read More
 19 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
Architectural; drawings, Mausoleum of Humayun, Delhi, ca.1836

Delhi, India - ca.1836
Watercolour

The drawings are recorded as being by 'native' droughtsmen of the Delhi School in the Office of the Honourable East India Company's Superintendent of Public Buildings and Ancient Monuments at Calcut... Read More
 18 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
`Abdul Samud - Persian General in Dost Mohd.s. Service Kabul'
Watercolour
Afghanistan - 1836
Vigne, Godfrey Thomas, born 1801 - died 1863

Vigne was an intrepid explorer and a gifted amateur artist, especially in his powerful characterisation of the various ethnic types he encountered on hi... Read More
 18 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
The Bride of the Kuzzelbash Kabul
Watercolour
Afghanistan - 1836
Artist: Vigne, Godfrey Thomas, born 1801 - died 1863

This beautiful young woman was the bride of Murtaza Khan, the head of a family of the Qizilbash tribe, who met Vigne near Ghazni and accompanied him to Kabul. [See the port... Read More
 17 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
`Shah Shuja-ool-Mulk', 1835, by Godfrey Thomas Vigne FRGS
Watercolour

Drawn by the artist at Lodiana (Ludhiana), in the Punjab, while the Shah was in exile and under the protection of Ranjit Singh: see Vigne, A Personal Narrative of a Visit to Ghuzni, Kabul, And Afghanistan ..., 1840, pp.7-9 & 3... Read More
 17 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
Dost Md Khan taken at Kabul
Watercolour
Afghanistan 1835-1838
Artist: Vigne, Godfrey Thomas, born 1801 - died 1863

Inscribed with title and similarly beneath, and on a separate label Dost Mahomed The father of Shere Ali the present Ameer of Cabul.

Dost Muhammad Khan was Amir of Kabul 1834-40, ... Read More
 3 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
Taxila gate and city of Peshawar (N.W.F.P.); camels in foreground - 20 March 1879

Water-colour painting of the Taxila gate and city of Peshawar in the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan by Charles J. Cramer-Roberts (1834-1895), 20 March 1879. Inscribed on the front in ink is: 'Taxila Gate.... Read More
 1 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
The heroic death in battle of Rani Durgavati. Painting from the Akbarnama, 1590-1595.

Depicts Asaf Khan in battle with the forces of Rani Durgavati, ruler of the Gond Kingdom of Middle India, in 1564. The image is overlaid with two panels of text extending from the upper and lower right hand m... Read More
 1 Dec 2012 Rare Paintings
The Heroic Death in Battle of Rani Durgavati
India
Date: ca.1590-1595

Artists:
Kesav (artist)
Jagannath (artist)

Opaque watercolour and gold on paper

Right side of a double picture representing the heroic death in battle of Rani Durgavati (ruler of the Gond Kingdom of Middle India... Read More
 27 Nov 2012 Rare Paintings
The source of the Saraswati river in the mountains of Abu in Gujerat.
ca. 1823
Pencil and watercolour on paper

This image comes from the third of three albums of paintings and drawings by Sir Charles Harcourt Chambers (1789-1828). A pencilled note on the first volume reads 'Hermitage pictur... Read More
 25 Nov 2012 Rare Paintings
Village on the river bank near Hurrodham (Bengal) - 10 September 1788

Water-colour painting of a village on the river bank near Hurrodham (Bengal) by Thomas (1749-1840) and William (1769-1837) Daniell, 10 September 1788. Inscribed on the front of the mount in pencil is: 'Near Harradum. Hurdum'... Read More