This postcard actually shows a young Gohar Jan (right) and her mother Malka Jan, both famous dancers and singers. Gohar Jan was the first recorded Indian artist, by the Gramophone company in 1904. She can be heard on YouTube.
This image was used
The Kolam tradition of creating complex geometric patterns, often passed down from mother to daughter, out of rice flour or chalk in front of the home is an ancient tradition in South India and elsewhere.
The bicycle was something quite new in Bombay at the turn of the century, and often featured on postcards, frequently with women as drivers.
This so-called "chromo-collotype" card was created by running an image derived from a black and white photograph through multiple color runs, after each color had dried, creating rich and translucent images.
One can imagine that the textiles worn by the woman are vibrant with color, and the postcard could be spectacular hand-tinted, but the stripes still make for a billowing effect in black and white.
Much of the early postcard market was driven by collectors who exchanged cards with each other around the world, as this text on this card illustrates. Addressed to Frau Emma Valenti in Trieste, Austria:
"Madame,
Your cards to hand.
A spectacularly well-tinted color postcard. Note how well the colors have been applied by hand via stencils to the carpet the woman is sitting on.
Behind an arsenal of jewelry in a photographer's studio sits a young girl.
A very early blue-toned postcard from booksellers Cobridge and Co. Sent from Bombay's Sea Post Office, date unclear, to Mr. J. Sherman, 12 Middleton Square, Clerkennell, E.C. London, England: "With fondest love to all from Arthur."
Kolams or muggulu are thought to bring prosperity to homes. These intricate rice flour decorations are made by women in front of doorsteps primarily in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Feeding a Thousand Souls Women, Ritual, and Ecology in
