The Indian Courtyard
This promotional postcard for the British Empire Exhibition in London in 1924 was signed by Ernest Maitland Coffin (1868-1944), apparently a successful commercial artist.
Architecture
A General View. Tombs of Sultan Nizamuddin and Jahanara Begum.
The publisher seems to speak to the Indian customers with this translation perpendicular to the image, and perhaps educate European ones:
[Recto]"Translation in English from the Arabic written on her tomb"
"He is alone everliving and everlasting".
The Gate, Taj Mahal, Agra
[Original caption] Commenced in 1637 and completed in 1648 A.D. by the Emperor Shahjahan. Wonderful Building in the world. [end]
Gruss aus Carl Hagenbeck's Indien 1898
An exceptional early lithographic card from the famous German exotic people's promoter and founder of Berlin's zoo. The title says it depicts an Indian coffee house.
Babu Badridas' Jain Temple, Calcutta
One of the most popular early views of Kolkata, this Jain is dedicated to Sitalnathji, the 10th of the 24 Jain tirthankaras.
Albert Hall, Side View, Jaipur
"From its opening day," writes Thomas R. Metcalf in An Imperial Vision Indian Architecture and the British Raj, "the building was praised as a 'successful adaptation of the Indo-Saracenic style to a modern public building. For the Journal of Indian
Alaudeen Gate, Delhi.
The Alauddin Gate of Delhi is known as Alai Darwaza
[Original caption] Built by Alaudin Khilji in 1310 A.D. [end]
Alai Darwaza is said to be among the first buildings in India to be based on Central Asian and Muslim design principles.
The Taj, Agra
Probably the earliest Tuck's postcard of the Taj Mahal, from a Bourne & Shepherd photograph, before writing was allowed on the back.
Ahmed din Buildings Rawalpindi
A real-photo postcard printed the wrong way around. By the late teens it was becoming more common for publishers to print postcards on photographic paper the size and with the backing of postcards; this was possibly commissioned by Ahmed Din.
Jahangiri Mahal, Agra Fort.
[Original caption] A beautiful palace of red sandstone built either by Akbar (1556-1605) or by Jahanghir (1605-1627). The great central court, its pillars, the carving and ornamentation, are all pure Hindu.
