The Fakirs at Benares, On the Bank of the Ganges. India.
An rare French postcard of Benares [Varanasi], featuring fakirs debating and listening with the ghats in the background.
Color
Paschendaele Nov. 1914 Cavaliere indienne [Indian Cavalry]
![Paschendaele Nov. 1914 Cavaliere indienne [Indian Cavalry]](https://www.paperjewels.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/slides/indian-soldier_0.jpg?itok=NaOCI3g- "Paschendaele Nov. 1914 Cavaliere indienne [Indian Cavalry]")
This postcard by the French artist Emile Dupuis honoured the Indian soldiers who fought with the Allies in in what is better known as the First Battle of Ypres in Belgium, an early World War I battleground where some 160,000 German soldiers died.
A Rajput of Rajgarh
A magnificent postcard by the Australian painter Mortimer Menpes (1860-1938), based on a visit to India he made for the 1903 Darbar. An ageing warrior is given life by dazzling colors.
Darjeeling (Himalaya)
The postcard artist, who signed other cards in this India series published by an obscure Munich firm, was Johann Friedrich Perlberg (1848-1921). Son of a painter, he best known for his paintings of Egypt, Palestine and the Middle East, many of which
Hindustan Nawab and his family (17th Century)
Many of the earliest postcards were actually advertising cards, given the expense of producing lithographic cards like this French view of a 17th century Nawab and son. The woman in the back holds a nautch girl's pose.
Kandy
Elephants Bathing. Queen's Hotel. Temple of the Sacred Tooth.
A multi-image card popular around the turn of the century, where one type of postcard sought to compress as many views of a place into a small space. Murray's Handbook for India, Burma and
Lucknow, Indian Mutiny, 1857
The back of this advertising card for "Price's 'Lighting Tapers,' for lighting candles, gas, &c, White or coloured, in various thicknesses, and 12 or 22 inches long," provides this caption about what is also known as the First War of Independence or
Lipton's Teas and Coffees
An early Lipton's advertising postcard; the firm used postcards very effectively to spread the new habit of tea drinking and associate it with its brand of Ceylon-grown teas.
Girls School in Jaipur
[Original German] Maedchen Schule in Jeypore [end]
This image was made by the Austrian landscape painter Josef Hoffman who toured India and Persia in the 1890s.
Gangavataran
[Original caption] Shankar receives the river Ganga on his head in compliance with the prayers of Bhageeratha. [end]
This image is from a famous painting by Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906), one of India's most important painters.
