A Group of Twenty Company School Paintings

A group of 20 paintings depicting occupations and costumes of people in India. A number of these are people who would have been in the service of British residents in India, particularly in the domestic sphere. Others would be those who these residents had observed or interacted with in some way. It was British officers who commissioned local artists to make these paintings. Examples can be seen in the British Library. ‘One of the most prolific and best documented types of Company painting flourished at Patna (Azimabad), the capital of Bihar, formerly a province of the Mughal empire.’[1] ‘By 1800, Patna was the head-quarters of one of the eleven Provincial Committees between which the eastern territories of the Bengal Presidency had been divided by the British.’ ‘As a result of its increasing prosperity, a number of artists of the Kayastha caste were attracted to Patna from Murshidabad.’[2]
Most of the paintings here depict at least one figure either set in a field with green grass and trees in the background or sitting and performing a task matching their occupation. Each painting is set within a black border and at the bottom, in pencil, is an annotation identifying the subject. ‘As historians of domestic servants have noted, employment in European households of early-colonial India followed certain hierarchical patterns, often taking after local nobility. The hierarchy was more pronounced at the top, occupied by the literate class like the accountants, and the bottom, occupied by the likes of sweepers, whose work was hereditary and distinctly caste-marked. Between these two extremes, positions such as ‘khidmutgars’ and ‘hookahbardars’ did not necessarily follow from a fixed caste function. Still, a more definite ranking by wage and status pertaining to work distribution remained even within this middling range.’[3] In some of the paintings, there appears to be a uniform worn by many of the servants. It is possible that certain things like the colour of the turbans, belts, and shoes depended on the house they served at.

Bridegroom
A charming painting depicting a bridal party of five people, including the newly wed bride and groom. The bride is seen draped in pink and bedecked in jewels from head to toe, and wears green glass bangles (a sign of marriage in eastern India) on her wrists. The bride and groom are seen connected by a pink dupatta, which is another sign that this is after the wedding has taken place, following the phere. The groom is dressed in white with green embroidery on the borders and matching green jootis. He also wears jewellery, with multiple necklaces and possibly a sehra on his turban.  
Hindu woman
A woman is depicted in a single drape, white sari with a blue pattern on the border and palla. She covers her head. Typical to this period, she does not wear a blouse, but instead uses only her sari to cover her upper body. She wears green bangles and toe rings, indicating she is married.  She holds an earthen pot in her hand, possibly for filling water.
Assaburdar
This painting depicts an Assaburdar or long silver stick bearer. We see reference to an Assaburdar by James Forbes, where he says ‘great men have also servants with gold and silver staves of rich workmanship running before them, called chopdars and assaburdars; a sort of heralds, who sing their praises, and proclaim their titles in the hyperbolic style of the east.’[4] The subject is seen wearing what appears to be a common uniform worn by those in the employ of the British, a long all-white jama over an undershirt and striped trousers, a blue and white, with gold ribbon belt around the waist, and a flat white turban with the same blue and gold ribbon. The shoes match and are the same blue. In both his hands he rests a richly decorated long silver staff.   
Syce
This painting depicts a Syce or Sais, a servant who is employed to look after horses and attend to the stable.  This occupational identity is reinforced by the inclusion of the head of a horse from the left of the painting. The man is shown wearing the same blue, white, and gold turban and kamarband of the uniform mentioned earlier. In one hand he holds the reign of the horse and in another a flywhisk. He is shown without shoes.
Moonshi
A Munshi under the British was usually an administrator or accountant. The man depicted in this painting is shown with his head in profile, wearing all white garments and turban, and traditional shoes in green. Across his white kamarband rests a jewelled string ending in a ring. He holds a long wooden cane in one hand.
Rajah
Inspired by classic Mughal paintings, the raja is depicted delicately holding a rose in one hand. His status and wealth is clearly indicated through his layers of pearls, emeralds, and rubies across his neck, turban, and arms.
Hindu barber
The subject is shown wearing all white clothes and turban, with no shoes, holding small shears or clippers to indicate his profession as a barber. Barbers or नाई and their wives often acted as marriage matchmakers in villages, and played an important role in wedding ceremonies.
Sotaburdar
This painting depicts the bearer of a ceremonial lion-headed mace (also known as soonta or souta). He would have acted as a person providing some amount of security and protection to their employer. He is shown dressed similarly to the Assaburdar in his blue, white, and gold turban and kamarband of the uniform mentioned earlier, and blue shoes, and possibly worked in conjunction with him.
Dewan
This painting portrays a Dewan or official. He can be seen holding a paper to indicate his profession. He is dressed well in a jama, jewels, shoes and socks.
Uttar wallah
This painting is different from the others. While the other subjects are placed outdoors, this perfume seller or Attar wallah, is placed within his place of work. Sitting on a platform and resting against a bolster, he holds weighing scales with one little bottle of attar on one plate of the scale and a weight on the other scale. He is surrounded by baskets, glass bottles, and camel skin bottles used for storing perfume. His clothes, all white kurta and pyjama, white cap, and long beard could suggest that he was Muslim. Attar-making was not reserved to one religion, however, was practised often by Muslims in northern India.  
Khansamah
This painting depicts a very well-dressed man marked at a Khansamah or cook. This is indicated by the silver serving pot he holds in his hands. He is in a long jama on top of undershirt and striped loose trousers, and black leather European-style shoes. The blue ribbon on his flat turban and matching belt is similar to that seen on others in this collection. He has a beard and curled moustache. 
Hookahburdar
This painting depicts a hookah burdar or hookah bearer. He wears a similar outfit to the Khansamah, with the blue kamarband more visible here. He carries a hookah in one hand, metal tongs for the coal in another, and a rolled up rug under his arm. He is shown barefoot. A hookahburdar like him would have been an essential part of the domestic set up of the elite, responsible for arranging the hookah and all its accompaniments for his employer.
Bangywallah
This painting depicts a man dressed in a dhoti carrying a banghy across his shoulder. A banghy is a shoulder yoke for carrying loads, a pair of suspended boxes or baskets. 
Durwan
This painting depicts a doorkeeper or guard coming from the Persian word دربان where در means door and بان means keeper. He stands wearing all white, with a red turban fixed with a jewel.
Chatta burdar
This painting depicts a bearer of a parasol or umbrella (छाता). Wearing a pleated dhoti and a necklace with a black thread and talismanic charms. He carries a large red parasol with white trimmings and a long, decorated stem.
Sirdar bearer
Depicted here is a sirdar bearer.  A sirdar-bearer was one ‘who acted as the head of household’s personal attendant, these bearers were employed in numbers of five or more and were supposed to also make themselves useful for other sundry tasks, such as cleaning the furniture, that were not performed by figures like ‘khidmutgars’.[5] Similar to others who performed tasks within the household, the subject is shown wearing the white and blue uniform. 
Bramin Tagore
Annotated as a Bramin Tagore, it is more likely a Brahmin Thakur, which was misheard and pronounced by the British as Tagore. The subject’s Brahmin caste is clear from the sacred Upanayana or Janeyu thread across his body. He wears a well-draped dhoti and single toed shoes called paduka. He carries in his hands flowers in a basket and a kamandal for a puja.
Cart
In this painting one sees the depiction of a bullock cart, with two bullocks attached to a cart with sacks showing numbers and the letters RB. A man sits at the helm of the cart, steering the bullocks.
Khedmatgar
This painting depicts a khedmatgar ­ or a waiter. This is indicated throw the bottle and glass he holds in his hands. He is in a similar uniform as previous subjects, but without the kamarband.
Sircar
The Sircar is a house steward, and is shown holding a small white object, presumably something for household use. He wears all white, a flat white pagdi and yellow shoes.  He has a teeka on his head.

References
Archer, Mildred., and Graham. Parlett. Company Paintings : Indian Paintings of the British Period. Indian Art Series. London: Victoria and Albert Museum in Association with Mapin, 1992
Sengupta, R. (2022). Keeping the master cool, every day, all day: Punkah-pulling in colonial India. The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 59(1), 37–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/00194646211064592
Forbes, James. Oriental Memoirs: Selected and Abriged from a Series of Familiar Letters Written During Seventeen Years Residence in India ... Observations ... Africa and South America .... United Kingdom: Bensley, 1813

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[1] Mildred Archer, Company Paintings, p. 84
[2]  Ibid.
[3] Sengupta, R. (2022). Keeping the master cool, every day, all day: Punkah-pulling in colonial India. The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 59(1), 37–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/00194646211064592
[4] Forbes, James. Oriental Memoirs: Selected and Abriged from a Series of Familiar Letters Written During Seventeen Years Residence in India ... Observations ... Africa and South America .... United Kingdom: Bensley, 1813, p. 42
[5] Sengupta, R. (2022). Keeping the master cool, every day, all day: Punkah-pulling in colonial India.


Stock no.: A5511