Bombay - Smoking Room, The Taj Mahal Hotel
The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Bombay, which opened in 1903, was very popular with visitors and on postcards.
Collotype
Greetings from Darjeeling
One can only marvel at the early "Greetings from" postcard, the way five photographs are woven into one image with the help of plant motifs, in this case tree branches but often palm trees for Indian images.
Singhalese ayah (Nurse Maid)
Plate & Co. in Colombo dominated the postcard trade on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and sold half a million postcards in 1907 alone, an enormous sum for a single publisher.
Expecting
A rare image of a pregnant woman (or is she just waiting?), posing in a studio, with an abundance of real vegetation surrounding her.
Palms, Chepauk, Madras
A moody image in sepia of palm trees in the Chepauk district of Chennai.
[Verso] “Madras. 27.12.13. On the run again this time Madras Bombay Karachi Lahore Calcutta Rangoon.
An Indian Actress
A startling image of an Indian actress, carrying a bow in one hand, perhaps from the play she is acting in. But is it a she?
The Tomb of Itmad-ud-Doula. Agra.
[Original caption] Was an Wazir of the Emperor Jahangir. This Building built during the reign of Jahangir in 1628 A.D. [end]
Itmad-uud-Doula was a member of a ruling group that included Nur Jahan, Emperor Jehanghir's wife, courtier Asaf Khan and
Music
[Verso, handwritten] "Oct. 24, 1915. My dear Annie, Do you think you could play this instrument? The music is very weird but I suppose they think it is nice. I don't!
A Cobbler
An early postcard that blends photography, the collotype printing process and colorization to produce what the Germans called a "Lichtdruck" or "light print" that resembles a painting.
The City and the Mosque of Shah - Hamadan, Srinagar (Kashmir)
Srinagar owes its name to the blend of the words Sri (wealth) and Nagar (city). The wooden architecture of Shah - Hamadan blends Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu and local mountain styles.
