Description: Company Paintings.Mika. India. To 1850th
Collection of 47 very finely crafted Mika Paintings from South India with scenes from the
Life of the population, the country's customs and outstanding architectures of the area around
Madurai in the province of Madras in Tamil Nadu.
Tempera (?) On Mika (very fine silicate rock). 1850. Unsigned. in contemporary light
Scrapbook.
Depending on the material with smaller edge defects and partial layer delamination. isolated
minor missing parts, kinks or tears. Painting rarely affected.
The somewhat generalising designation "Company Paintings" presents in the determination
these small works of art: in miniature-like depictions of everyday life,
Culture and nature of India in the 18th and 19th centuries were moments memory
be created that (mostly retiring) employees colonial companies
the subcontinent on the part of company management were presented as a gift.
We commissioned local artists, both members of the caste system and the
locally prevailing traditions and customs, the landscape scenery and the
Animal Kingdom map in small but high-quality paintings. Very quickly came this
Work a more prominent role of European to as a mere gift to breastfeed
Joy to be in the exotic - the artists and clients developed themselves
Interest in India and its diverse culture in an understandable, but as it
to portray aesthetically and artistically sophisticated way.
Probably the most famous collection of Mika paintings are found in possession of the Yale University
in Connecticut, United States. The Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library local (library) has
a bound, 72 miniatures complete manuscript in existence, under the title "The
Seventy-two Specimens of casts of India "(The seventy-two different castes of India)
is run and dates back to the 1837th Besides, on the European
Continent - on Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen, Denmark - a slightly smaller but
elaborate collection of miniatures to be found.
They are all eloquent part of a vibrant, interested also in national cultures,
Colonial history of various nations and because of their generally high
artistic quality of scientists and experts highly appreciated.