Featured Pair of Indian gouache paintings

Or at least I think they are. Grabbed these in Kendal earlier. Just sat down to dissect them in a pub and then someone came over and told me the nice big table I was sat at was reserved by them. Frames and clips n stuff all over the place. They looked like parchment when I looked at them in the shop. However when I took the first one apart it had a scribbled pattern on the back which looks like card. Okay I thought, maybe that's just the backing. It seem like the paint is directly on the card though. At a second glance it looks like the card is signed on the back and not a design as I first thought. I'm wondering why it would have all these signatures, if not by accident. I cracked the second one open expecting the same but was happy to find it is on parchment.

 

Beautiful.

Contemporary Indian miniature painters often use pages from disused old administrative books and documents to create an impression of age.

 

That explains that one. Thank you .

 

I was thinking the same thing. Reused backings. The gents seated on the rug are a Mughal design; I thought they were Persian for a second. The lady is wearing a lengha.

 

Thank you. It is very similar style to Persian art.

 

I thought the Mughals were originally Persian, but it turns out they were Azeri. Central Asian Muslims probably cultually cross-pollinated.

 

I was barely aware of the mughals until yesterday. I have been looking at some similar miniatures on eBay and there are some fantastic pieces. It could be a very expensive hobby.

 

I thought the Mughal Empire was founded by Babur, who came from Uzbekistan. Babur was a descendant of Genghis Khan, hence the name Mughal, Persian for Mongol.
Uzbekistan and other parts of Central Asia were culturally Persian and had significant Persian communities.

Azeris are Caucasian btw, not Central Asian (genuine Caucasians). Azerbaijan lies in the southern part of the Caucasus, in both Europe and Asia.

 

Uzbek..oops. (LOL) It makes total sense then that Mughal art and Persian art look a lot alike.