Phatani Begging Woman
Women are often shown as dancers, rarely this elderly as beggars on postcards. This photograph was likely taken in a studio, with the woman sitting on a stone which might be covered with animal skins.
Woman
Miss Chanda of Hyderabad
Dancers were not named frequently named; unusual too is the purple and white hand-tinting.
Greeting from South India
An unusual early "Greetings from" card by Wiele & Klein, one of the leading photographic studios in South India. The woman looks slightly bored, if not irritated in this studio pose.
[Dancer]
![[Dancer]](https://www.paperjewels.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/slides/nautch-woman-g-and-o-court-sized.jpg?itok=ZqgDCVag "[Dancer]")
An even smaller than usual court-sized postcard, with a blind-stamped instead of printed "Post Card" on the back, suggesting it is among the earliest postcards published by the firm, and therefore one of the first of a dancer.
Hindu Beauty
A lithographic card, most likely done by an Indian artist and printed in Britain. Note how nicely the woman is foregrounded from a low angle, with a smaller temple in the background and a swirl of green that helps give life to the portrait.
Mohini
[Original caption] The Goddess of beauty sitting on a swing [end]
This image by Ravi Varma was one of his most successful in calendar art. Shown here she is perfect and ordinary, ideal yet accessible.
