Shiva Gangadhara (Bearer of the Ganga, artist's title Shiva Nataraja) by Y. G. Srimati - c1945


Medium: Watercolor with graphite underdrawing, applied by brush, on medium-weight wove paper
Source: metmuseum.org

Saraswati, Goddess of Learning and Music, Playing a Vina by Y. G. Srimati - c1947-48


Medium: Watercolor, graphite underdrawing
Source: metmuseum.org

Hamida Banu Begum, wife of Mughal Emperor Humayun. Anglo-Indian school at Lucknow - circa late 19th century



Medium: Opaque watercolour on warqa, laid down on later card
The inscription translates "Hamida Banu Begum, zauja (wife) Shah Jahan Badshah (king)". Collectors and dealers are usually pleased to find an old inscription on a painting, assuming it to be correct, but this is often - like here - not the case, in this instance having a husband still to be born! Identification of portraits Mughal Emperors' wives are notoriously difficult to identify due to the artists never having seen them, meaning they instead painted imaginary likenesses according to contemporary notions of beauty.
Hamida Banu Begum's legacy is the mausoleum she commissioned, Humayun's Tomb, following his death.

Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk

Portrait of Thakur Umrao Singh ji, attributed to the artist Rahim ji - Bikaner, early 19th century



Medium: Gouache on wasli
In a hybrid style typical of Bikaner at the time after large scale migration of artists from Jaipur who by and large continued to paint in the Jaipuri manner.
Rajasthan's thikanas (feudal states within a kingdom) were granted with the title thakur (equivalent to a lord) by the maharaja in recognition for loyalty and service.
Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk

Illustration to (one of the Hundred Aspects of) Vishnu Satnaam, Krishna, counsellor to Arjuna - Bikaner, Early 19th Century


Medium: Opaque watercolour on wasli
Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk/