A COMPANY SCHOOL PAINTING OF TWO SINDHI SARDARS IN CONVERSATION
PROPERTY FROM A LONDON PRIVATE COLLECTION
Sindh, Punjab Hills, Northern India, circa 1860 - 1880

Opaque pigments, black ink and pencil on paper, the vertical portrait depicting two white-clad men in conversation, each one wearing a tall, muti-folded turban either in white or orange linking them to the Sikh faith (sardar is a title or form of addressing Sikh believers), the man on the right holding a pestle and the latter a small water vessel (lota), an English note in pencil at the bottom of the composition reading Burials of Shikarpoor Sindh, mounted, framed and glazed, 34cm x 28.4cm including the frame.

Shikarpur is the capital of the Shikarpur District in Sindh, one of the provinces in modern-day Pakistan. The city is a well-known historical trade centre, founded in 1617 on a caravan route through the Bolan Pass into Afghanistan. Nowadays, Pashtun are the major ethnic group and the population is mainly Muslim, but historically, large groups of Hindu and Sikh believers used to live here. They all migrated to India after Independence in 1947.