c. 1800

Portrait and Equestrian Studies

In premodern India, paper was invariably handmade, whether locally or imported, and was relatively expensive. Artists thus had to be frugal and use each sheet to its maximum capacity. This artist crammed as many sketches of faces and mounted female ascetics onto the page as possible, and did the same on the reverse. Such studies became part of the workshop's tools, passed from one generation to the next to be used for direct transfer or for inspiration.