Indian Company School Artist, Musicians & Nautch Dancing Women, Early 19th Century, Mica Paintings, Set of 8

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An original early 19th-century set of 8 Indian gouache paintings on transparent mica.A fantastically vivid set of eight early 19th-century … Read more An original early 19th-century set of 8 Indian gouache paintings on transparent mica.A fantastically vivid set of eight early 19th-century Indian gouache paintings on transparent mica depicting musicians and dancing women. The paintings are small in size, measuring approximately 11.6 x 8.3cm.The detailed, colourful images comprise Nautch Singing Girl; Nautch Dancing Girls; Tambura-player; Tabla-player; Sarangi-players; and Cymbal-player.An inscription accompanying the collection indicates a likely provenance: 'probably bought by Capt Guise'. This is possibly Lt Colonel John Guise (1813–1890), HEICS of The Bengal Army, Lt General John Christopher Guise VC CB (1826–1895) who served with the British Army at Lucknow in 1857, or his brother Major Henry John Guise (1817–1857) who was killed in action during the Indian Rebellion.Indian Company paintings on mica are rare; it is estimated that as of now, there are only around 7,000 mica paintings available in the world.The mica is loose with no mount or backing.All artworks come with a Certificate of Authenticity and—if it is a collection artwork—its accompanying collection text or artist biography. Signed: No. Inscribed: No. Height: 11.6cm (4.6″) Width: 8.3cm (3.3″) Condition: Overall in very good condition, with vivid colours and minimal paint and mica loss, and generally very little delamination. Minor toning in places. One of the micas has a loss to the upper left corner and minor paint loss at the lower corners. Please see photos for detail. Presented: Unframed. See less