Description

This albumen portrait depicts a seated British military officer in full dress uniform, holding a plumed helmet and wearing a cavalry sword. The photograph was produced by Nicholas Bros. & Co., photographers with studios in Madras and Ootacamund, among the leading commercial studios serving British India during the nineteenth century. The reverse bears a contemporary pencil inscription identifying the sitter as “Major Grant, India,” providing a probable contemporary identification. The carte de visite dates to c. 1865–1875, a period when Nicholas Bros. was active in both Madras and the Nilgiri hill station of Ootacamund.

Condition

Albumen photograph mounted on its original carte de visite card. Light overall toning with scattered foxing and age-related soiling to the mount, most noticeable on the reverse. Minor edge and corner wear. Contemporary pencil identification on the reverse. Overall very good condition.

References

Dehejia, Vidya, ed. India Through the Lens: Photography 1840–1911. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2000.

Edwards, Steve. The Making of English Photography: Allegories. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.

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