Art from the Past: 17th Century Tibetan Paintings
Deities and Deomons with Tantric phurbas and dorjeys! Under study
Ganjifa Playing Cards – Art of Sawantwadi
I remember spending all my summers playing various games all day long! We were about 12-15 boys and girls of various ages living in a neighbourhood of 5 buildings and … Continue reading
Artwork of the Day: Mirrors of Identity
A pair of Chaakla Decorative Textiles from Gujarat with rare golden mirrors Asset 152 on WOVENSOULS.COM
A Weaver’s Heirloom Patan Patola Sari
Rediscovering a piece from the weaver’s heirlooms – a bridal sari with fabulous double ikat hand woven raw silk!
Sentinels & Thresholds
The threshold is a very important line in a traditional Indian home. It is washed and decorated beautifully every day with auspicious symbols drawn in powder by the woman of … Continue reading
Daily Art Fix – Antique Kalamkari Art
A fabulous 17th C Kalamkari Artwork!
Ivory Art for Royal Courts
All carvings are from the Victoria & Albert Museum, London Feb 2018 jaina mishra | wovensouls
An Indian Painted Narrative Scroll
Supposedly this is an old Bengal painted narrative scroll called Patta. Does this have the same rustic character as that of other Bengal Pattuas? Doesn’t the finesse of each element … Continue reading
Daily Art Fix – Ramayan in the Chamba Valley
Amazing 18th century Chamba Rumaal with scenes from the Ramayan https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/72821 Sita’s Fire Test Killing Ravan – A rare depiction with the severed heads and arms Am completed WOWed … Continue reading
The Jehangir Spinel
Owned and bequeathed by Jehangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb this amazing Spinel is now in the Victoria & Albert museum in London. Surprisingly it has been described by the V&A … Continue reading
Tipu Sultan’s Tiger
What an interesting artwork commissioned by Tipu Sultan! Seen at the V&A museum, London
Daily Art Fix – Saris as Textile Art!
Seen at the Victoria & Albert museum jaina mishra Feb 2018
Daily Art Fix – from Gujarat again!
Late 14th–early 15th century printed textile – Gujarat! Met Museum https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/72747 Celebrate Gujarat!! Feb 2018 jaina mishra| wovensouls View more exquisite antique textiles and more on
Silken flowers from Gujarat India
One more fabulous piece from Gujarat! At first I thought it was a print … until I read the explanatory note! ❤️ This textile is from the V & A … Continue reading
Daily Art Fix – An Antique Robe with Amli Embroidery
Works such as these remind us of the value added simply by the skill of an artist! The wool and the silk and the scissors could have made a robe … Continue reading
A Tent Hanging from India
The series on the V & A textiles continues with the printed tent hanging! Makes me think that I should pay some more attention to prints … From the … Continue reading
The Irony of my tiny Astrological Thangka Collection
It is ironical and even absurd that my journey in collecting Tibetan material began from being impressed by their ideology of renunciation of material wealth! The life seen in Tibet … Continue reading
A Kalamkari Coverlet – Antique Indian Textiles
A visit to any museum can be exhausting and the maximum I can handle is about 1 – 2 hours of exposure. In any given hall there are always too … Continue reading
Crowning Glory of a Turban with Double Sided Embroidery
The absolutely mind-boggling craft of double sided embroidery on a turban! Maybe this will be one step forward in eradicating the gender bias… in a century or so maybe all … Continue reading
The Bridal Sari of the erstwhile Queen of Sawantwadi 1922
I’ve seen a dozen or so amazing antique zari saris but none has been as unusual as this one seen in the museum of Sawantwadi, This shalu – a zari … Continue reading
Connecting the Dots of Gold
In the past, gold jewelry with motifs created by arranging tiny granules of gold was popular in some parts of India. Ancient Greeks used the granulation process too but the … Continue reading
