A group of 124 mica paintings of tradespeople, musicians, religious devotees, servants and other figures Company School, South India, circa 1830-40A group of 124 mica paintings of tradespeople, musicians, religious devotees, servants and other figures Company School, South India, circa 1830-40gouache on mica, removed from the original album and laid down on 31 sheets of modern card, four per card, together with original English handwritten inscriptions excised from the album; including a group of fifteen damaged paintings from the original album, the original card mounts, and the album binding each painting 104 x 70 mm.; card sheets 303 x 255 mm.ProvenanceFrom an album formerly in the collection of Lord Bath, Longleat (embossed stamp on two paintings in lot 132).Private UK collection.The subjects are as follows (per sheet):1. A cook and his wife; a village headman and his wife.2. A man and his wife selling toddy; a potter and his wife.3. A 'devotee of high caste' and his wife; two musicians.4. A dancing girl and a 'man who beats time' (with a pair of small cymbals); a dancing girl and a drummer.5. A moochee and his wife: 'makes harness and builds conveyances' [?]; a Brahmin and his wife.6. A palanquin bearer and his wife; 'Some official headman in the village' and his wife.7. A devotee and his wife: 'there is some magical ceremony to be performed with the rice contained in the barrels borne on his shoulders'; a male and a female devotee, 'of which there are an immense variety in India, from rags to costly attire'.8. A Rajah and his wife; a Brahmin and his wife.9. A Moochee Painter [?] and his wife; a barber and his wife.10. A head carpenter and his wife (wielding an axe); a dyer and his wife.11. A coolie or day labourer and his wife; a gardener and his wife.12. A Jewel merchant and his wife; a devotee and his wife, 'a wretch who extorts charity by cutting and maiming himself'.13. Two toddy cutters or sellers; a fortune teller and his wife.14. An 'oil man' and his wife; a village palanquin bearer and his wife.15. A devotee 'bearing an idol' [a portable shrine] and begging, and his wife'; a goldsmith and his wife.16. Two well-dressed and bejewelled women; a harness and saddlemaker and his wife. 17. A fortune teller and his wife (on the same sheet of card as no. 18).18. A religious mendicant, wearing a metal grille round his neck and his wife: 'Has made a vow that the ornament round his neck shall never be removed until he obtains in charity sufficient money to build a place of worship'.19. Two musicians, one with a European violin; a washerman and a washerwoman.20. A devotee and his wife, 'going to the jungle to perform poojee' [puja]; two religious devotees with Shiavite marks: 'they all live on charity'.21. Two religious devotees; a man selling bangles, and his wife.22. A Muslim nobleman and his wife; 'some kind of headman', wearing a sword and carrying a flywhisk, and his wife.23. 'A Peon Official, attendant on civilians', and his wife; 'A Moor Man, or Mohammedan, smoking the hubble-bubble', and his wife (also smoking a hookah).24. A shoemaker (chuckee) and his wife; a mat-maker and his wife, carrying baskets.25. A weaver carrying wool and his wife; a snake charmer with his baskets 'setting out on a journey', and his wife and child.26. A female grasscutter, and a male housekeeper; a woodman and his wife.27. A musician 'beating the Tom-tom', and another 'singing and dancing; a gentleman's head servant, and his wife.28. A Peon or native constable, and his wife; a religious devotee with shaven head and long robe, and his wife.29. A chobdar (a bejewelled woman depicted), and a tribal village headman; a musician; a man of the Mahratta caste.30. A torch bearer, 'accompanying a set of palankeen bearers', and his wife; a male and a female grasscutter.31. A writer (a secretary), and his wife; a 'beggar of caste' and his wife.32. A Subadar, 'a military official of rank under some native power', and his wife; a 'Dahite' [?], 'an official attendant on a judge', and his wife.