~ Boer War Period Collection of 17 Miniature Indian Company School Mica Paintings ~
A set of 17 miniature mica paintings collected by the Victorian journalist A. Forbes during the Boer War period.
In the set we have 15 images of Tombs, Dargahs and Palaces from the cities of Lucknow, Delhi and Agra.
There are also two portraits, one of a King and the other unknown.
These paintings are in the ‘Company’ school or style which is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in British India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for European patrons.
Each painting as mentioned is on mica, overlaid with convex glass and mounted on paper with writing below.
Each comes wrapped in another larger piece of paper with handwritten details of the image by the original collector.
~ Dimensions ~
Each of the oval paintings measures 4cm by 3cm. The others vary in size but are of similar dimensions.
~ Condition ~
The paintings themselves are all in excellent order, the colours still bright and with no damage.
The convex glass on a few is no longer attached.
The paper parts have varying degrees of wear.
Please refer to the images for more detail.
~ Mica Paintings ~
Mica paintings are generally small images painted in gouache on one side of very thin, flexible sheets of mica which is a transparent mineral found throughout south India.
Mica paintings were very popular around the middle of the nineteenth century and featured a wide range of subject matter. They imitated paintings on glass, which were popular in Europe at the time.
Mica is a very brittle substance and it is relatively rare to find examples in good condition.
#18376
