A metalwork shop, possibly attributable to the family workshop of Purkhu of Kangra, Sikh, Punjab, mid-19th century

gouache and gold on paper, laid down on stout paper with a blue border

Bonhams, London, 5 April 2011, lot 305

In good overall condition, colours vivid and gold bright, losses to outer album leaf edges, as viewed.
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This accomplished and atmospheric painting of a Sikh metalwork shop is a fine example of the interest in the nineteenth century in recording people, costumes and trades in India. This interest came mostly from the British, but the trend became more widespread. However, the scene here is much more than simply a documentary record of trade. The aristocratic customer waits serenely while the shopkeeper weighs the metal pot, his book-keeper sitting behind him with the accounts boards. In the foreground a holy man looks optimistically towards the aristocrat, hoping for alms, while his two monkeys studiously ignore the proceedings. On the back wall of the shop hang two framed portraits of the most renowned of the Sikh leaders - the founder of Sikhism in 1507, Guru Nanak (1469-1539), to the left and Maharaja Ranjit Singh (b.1780, r.1801-39) to the right - while the shopkeeper's shiny wares are piled high in an almost architectural display within the shop. 

For other pages from the same series, see Fussmann 1992, pp.148-9, no.70; Poster et al. 1994, p.298, no.247 (also Sotheby’s, New York, 20 September 1985, lot 371), Sotheby’s, London, 28 April 1981, lots 139-140; Sotheby’s, New York, 20-21 September 1985, lot 371 (by the present artist); Bonhams, London, 24 April 2012, lot 293.