Two portraits of a man and a woman, Southeast India, Tamil N - Lot 259

Two portraits of a man and a woman, Southeast India, Tamil Nadu, possibly Pondicherry, Company School, late 19th century Gouaches on watermarked paper, each representing a portrait. The first, a full-length portrait of a man dressed in a long white jama, wearing a matching turban and holding a cane in his left hand. Portrait captioned in French at the bottom in black ink "Interprète, Caste Cavaré" and numbered n°86 at the top. The second, a full-length portrait of a woman, richly adorned and wearing colorful clothes wrapped in a white sari with red braid. 39 x 28 and 39 x 25 cm Some foxing, traces of passe-partout and slight edge tears, mounted on cardboard. These two portraits, one of which is captioned in French, may fall into the category of so-called "Company Paintings", i.e. works executed by Indian artists for Europeans living in India. In this case, the language of the legend points us in the direction of French India, a path supported by the designation of the Cavaré caste, which was well represented in Pondicherry, the capital of this region of India occupied by France from the end of the 17th century to the middle of the 20th century. Moreover, the interpreter function attributed to this man is a concrete testimony to the cohabitation of Indians and French in the 19th century. Two Portraits, South-East India, Tamil Nadu, perhaps Pondichery, Company School, late 19th century