Company paintings : Indian paintings of the British period

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Indian artists were commonly employed by the British East India Company and its servants to illustrate the manners and customs of India and to record its many picturesque sights, monuments, deities, festivals, crafts and occupations. Their work, a blend of Indian and British styles, is known as 'Company painting' and is represented in the Victoria and Albert Museum by over 2,600 examples. In this catalogue, Dr Mildred Archer discusses the circumstances in which this type of painting evolved and describes and lists the Museum's collection according to the various regions in which it was produced: Andhra, Trichinopoly, Madras, Madura, Tanjore, Malabar and Coorg, Mysore, Murshidabad, Patna, Calcutta, Benares, Puri, Oudh, Delhi and Agra, the Punjab, Rajasthan, Western India, Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka and Malacca. Many little-known styles of Company painting are described and illustrated, including painting on mica, glass and ivory, and each section is prefaced by a historical note. The volume is richly illustrated and accompanied by an extensive bibliography, glossary and index.