A Couple (from the series Costumes and Professions)

mid-1800s

South India, Tanjore, 19th century

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Measurements

Overall: 24.1 x 19.9 cm (9 1/2 x 7 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward 2001.164

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Location

Not on view

Description

This work was made by Indian artists for a member of the British East India Company. It was painted in the southern style of Company school painting, which is distinguished by its bold outlines, saturated color, and heavy application of gold. The priest on the right bears the sectarian markings of a follower of the Hindu god Vishnu on his forehead, chest, arms, and flag. A 19th-century British inscription on its surviving fly sheet, a protective cover of tissue paper, states that this priest made his living by praying to the “native doorway” early every morning. The survival of this commentary reveals how British collectors used these apparently objective depictions of costumes and professions to implicate Indian holy men in strange or even charlatan behavior.