Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search
Previous Lot
Next Lot
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 1
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 2
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 3
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 4
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 5
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 6
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 7
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 8
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 9
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 10
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 11
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 12
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 13
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 14
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 15
Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages Central and Western India, circa 1800-30(8) image 16
Lot 237

Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages
Central and Western India, circa 1800-30
(8)

Islamic and Indian Art
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £2,560 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Ten paintings depicting tradespeople, musicians, soldiers and others, laid down on large album or scrapbook pages
Central and Western India, circa 1800-30

pen and ink and watercolour on watermarked paper, English identifying inscriptions in pencil and ink, laid down on eight large album pages, each side of each album page with between four and six English prints of the first half of the 19th Century alongside the paintings, the album pages loose
the smallest paintings 205 x 160 mm.; the largest 255 x 225 mm.; album pages 47 x 33 cm.(8)

Footnotes

These vivid studies of Hindu, Muslim and Zoroastrian men, women and children are reminiscent of the illustrations in Charles Gold's Oriental Drawings Sketched Between the Years 1791 and 1798 (1806), a collection of images produced from sketches made by Captain Charles Gold while he was serving in military campaigns against Tipu Sultan.

The paintings are as follows:

1. A musician singing and playing a stringed instrument.
Inscribed in ink: A Musician attendant on dancing Girls. Hindustan.

2. A Hindu lady lifting her veil.
Inscribed in ink and pencil: Hindoo Woman.

3. A water carrier (bhisti) carrying water in a leather bag (mashak). Inscribed in ink and pencil: A Bustie.

4. Man of the Gun Lascar Corps, Madras Establishment of the East India Company's army. Inscribed in ink: An Artillery Lascar. The Gun Lascar was used to carry equipment, ammunition, gun parts and set up the gun. The only task that the Gun Lascar did not do was to actually aim and fire the weapon. They also performed sentinel duty to all posts of minor importance.

5. Maratha horseman armed with spear, rifle, bow and arrows, sword, punch dagger and shield
Inscribed in ink: Mahratta Horseman fully accoutred

6. Indian soldier in the East India Company army Bombay Grenadiers wearing a mitre helmet with his wife and three children move their household furniture on a bullock.
Inscribed in ink: Sepoy moving his Family & furniture., and numbered 12.

7. An orderly (peon) and a runner who carries mail (harkara)
Inscribed in ink: A Peon/a Hurcarrah.

8. A servant dedicated to preparing the hookah for smoking (hookah burdar) carries his equipment.
Inscribed in ink: A Hookah Burdarer.

9. Soldier armed with sword and shield possibly in the service of Nawab Mir Nasir ud-din (d. 1821) in Surat, Gujarat.
Inscribed in ink: A Peon or Sepoy belonging to the Nabob of Surat.
The port of Surat, on the western coast of India, was an important centre for foreign trade and the principal harbour for the Mughal navy. Nawab Mir Nasir ud-din was the Nawab of Surat from 1799 until his death just over two decades later. During his rule, he agreed to give the British company control of Surat's administration in exchange for land revenue and recognition of his titles.

10. A Parsi servant
Inscribed in ink: A Parsee Servant.

Additional information