This image shows a townscape interspersed with buildings and trees. The primary colours here are yellow, green, black and ash – while the signature ‘Souza-esque’ style of blunt, cruel humour is lent by the powerful strokes of green and yellow, fierce lines and bold swaths of ash. Souza believed that art offered the only respite… Read more »
This watercolour work by artist Badri Narayan (1929-2013) depicts a cluster of houses with a white unicorn in the foreground. Badri Narayan was entirely self-taught and his art betrays a deeply introspective gaze. All of his work was in some way or the other an exploration of the self. He was inspired by various movements… Read more »
This is a copper coin issued by Krishnacharya Purniya who was the regent (or Dewan) of the Mysore monarch Krishnaraja Wodeyar. On the obverse side is the depiction of the “Sardula” – a mythological beast with leonine features and horns, and an inscription in Kanarese in two registers. On the topmost register of this side… Read more »
This particular painting of a woman with a parrot perched on her shoulder is perhaps inspired from the sculptures of ‘alasa kanyas’ popular in medieval Indian temples. Thota Vaikuntam is known to capture the simple lifestyle of villagers through his paintings. He depicts scenes of paddy fields, toddy pots on shoulders of men, household chores,… Read more »
This watercolour depicts a woman on a bed holding a letter in her hand. She’s likely dreaming of receiving a letter from a loved one. Around her hover three other figures: two men and one woman. The dreamlike environment is further enhanced by bold washes of watercolour that run all around the central narrative. Badri… Read more »
This is a gold fanam coin issued by Tipu Sultan in the year 1786. On the obverse side is inscribed the Persian letter “H” (for Haider Ali, Tipu’s father) inside a circle and dotted border. On the reverse side is inscribed the mint name, Calicut, in Persian and the date of issue.
The subject of this painting is a semi-nude female figure lying on her bed with a love letter. But for the breasts, there would be no way to identify the gender of the subject. The artist has whittled away all extraneous details, not to mention colours, to present a languid, wistful mood. Jogen Chowdhury’s nudes… Read more »
This silver drachm carries the kingly profile of Apollodotus II, who reigned east and west Punjab aka Taxila in the waning days of the Indo-Greek kingdom between 80 and 65 BC. Indo-Greek coins were of three types: stater (gold), drachm (silver) and copper (chalcon). The front of the coin carried the bust of the ruler… Read more »
Suhas Roy’s female forms inhabit a dreamlike space between sensual and innocent. This is one such work from his popular series Radha. Contrary to the popular imagination of a Radha as an icon, Roy’s Radha is a melancholy, yet graceful figure. Suhas Roy’s art works primarily focus on the female face and form that are… Read more »
A self-taught artist, born in the small town of Pandharpur in Maharashtra, MF Husain has had an extraordinary career. It began with painting cinema posters and toys in Bombay and only really took off after he became a member of the PAG. His primary pictorial concern was to imagine a secular modern Indian art, to… Read more »
In this painting, the artist depicts Jesus crucified in a traditional folkish set-up. Two goats look up at the cross, while architectural elements of what look like churches already seem to emerge in the backdrop. Madhvi Parekh got much of her exposure to art from her husband Manu Parekh who studied at the J.J. School… Read more »
This is a copper and nickel coin from the Republic of Liberia issued to honour Mahatma Gandhi. On the obverse side is the national emblem of Liberia along with the issuing year 2001, and an inscription detailing the value of the coin and the issuing country. On the reverse side is an image of Gandhi… Read more »
This is a print of the map showing the plan of the British attack on the city of Delhi, during the Uprising of 1857. Various clusters of directional lines with coordinates mark areas where the British troupes advanced. Landmarks such as the Landlow Castle and the ‘rampart’ hint that the advance is from the Ridge… Read more »
Plan of the military town of Bellary under the British government. It was an important town in British India, being parts of both the princely states of Madras and Hyderabad, before being transferred to Karnataka in 1956. The map is a monochrome engraving on paper, and points out important locations of the city such as… Read more »
This 1808 map of South India shows the territories held by the East India Company, outlined in pink. Mysore, nominally independent under the Wodeyar (Wadiyar) dynasty, is depicted in yellow, an island surrounded by British possessions. All territories marked B, N or M represent those areas ceded to the British and their allies, the Nizam… Read more »
This is a rare copper coin issued by the monarch of Mysore state Krishnaraja Wodeyar. On the obverse is inscribed the official emblem of the elephant executed in intricate detail, with two lines of inscriptions on top. The line on the top has the word “Shri” inscribed between the sun and the moon. The reverse… Read more »
This map of Mughal India created by Matthew Seuter in 1745 is titled Imperii Magni Mogolis. The map charts out the extent of the Mughal Empire, extending to Persia and Kandahar (In the west) and Burma and Thailand (In the east). To the south it extends to the Malabar coasts and also points out the… Read more »
This is a silver coin issued by the state of Bikaner under Ganga Singh, the Maharaja of the Princely State of Bikaner from 1888 to 1934. On the obverse is a mustachioed portrait of the king, with a turban worn in the Bikaneri style. Around the portrait is inscribed “Mahadhiraj Rajshri Ganga Singh Bahadur” in… Read more »
This map shows the plan of operations to carry out the Siege of Lucknow in 1857. During the Uprising, Lucknow held out for much longer than the rest of the strongholds of northern India, and an operation had to be devised by the British troupes to evacuate trapped and imprisoned Europeans from the Residency building.… Read more »
This is a military map showing the various positions of the British Army, and the plan of their attack on the walled city of Shahjahanabad. Created during the Uprising of 1857, the map points out various important landmarks such as the Chandni Chowk and the Subzee Mandi as also the gates around the fort such… Read more »