Women

An unusual dark background, and all the women holding hands and looking off slightly to their left.

A slightly unusual portrait of two nautch girls in what seems like a room but is likely a studio given the painted column on the left.

A very early postcard printed in India, most likely by The Ravi Varma Press and drawn by its chief lithographer Paul Gerhardt.

The claim that this is a much extolled Kashmiri beauty is probably true, as this particular woman seems to appear on other postcards from the period.

Professional dancing girls were among the most popular early postcard subjects. These two dancing girls are probably from Lucknow as the painting in the studio background on the left recalls the Chutter Manzil in Lucknow.

A very early postcard printed in India (postmarked Dec. 1902 in one instance) by the lithographer W. Cooper. The chance discovery of another photographic postcard shows how a scene like this was composed.

A humorous colonial postcard comparing clothes washing in England and India, part of a larger artist-signed series by the large Kolkata retailer.

A hand-painted postcard; given that cards retailed for one anna around this time, maybe two, after materials, one can only imagine how little the bazaar artist was paid.

A skirt or longyis is topped by a loosely fitted long sleeve shirt and the lady wears two necklaces, one a choker and another a longer one.

The former Angelina Yeoward (1873-1930) became one of the most famous singers in India, and one of its first gramophone-recorded artists. Her records were among the most popular between 1910 and 1920.