Comprising 107 paintings depicting various Hindu gods and goddesses and their different avatars, each illustration bearing an English inscription in black ink below identifying the deity, a hand-written inscription on the first page "John Robert Mackenzie. To his Mother 1850. J.W.S. Mackenzie from his father 1892", leather bound, (three paintings missing)
Opaque pigments on mica
10 x 8 ¾ in. (25.8 x 22.1 cm.)

Collection of John Robert Mackenzie, an English officer in the Madras army, served 1822-75.

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Lot Essay

These watercolours on paper and on mica were typically produced in standard sets for the mid-19th century colonial tourist market in the places such as Murshidabad, Patna and Benares in eastern India and in Tanjore and Trichinopoly in southern India. Among the most popular sets were those depicting deities, temples, plants and birds, and castes and trades. In South India, works produced in Trichinopoly are generally cruder and the palette less refined than the paintings from Tanjore.
For a set of twelve paintings on mica in the British Museum, attributed to Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirappalli) and dated to the mid-19th century, see A.L. Dallapiccola, South Indian Paintings – A Catalogue of the British Museum Collections, London, 2010, cat. no. 11, pp. 151-152.