A FAMILY OF JULAHA (WEAVERS) AT WORK
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
Chamba, Pahari School, Punjab Hills, Northern India, ca. 1830 - 1840, attributed to Chhajju (1775 - 1850)

Opaque pigments on wove paper, the horizontal-format composition depicting a rare and socially accurate scene of Indian village workers' lives, featuring a family of Northern Indian julaha (weavers) engrossed in their work, the elder householder weaving on a loom a triangular piece of orange and yellow cloth, his son sitting next to him on another loom and working on a white and green cloth, the mother in the foreground grinding cereals and feeding the chickens, on the left-hand side their married daughter cooking a stew on an open fire whilst her husband entertains their toddler, set within white and red rules, and typical Pahari-style concentric decorative borders with a two-tone floral spray on a dark blue ground and a red-speckled pink ground, mounted, glazed, and framed, the folio 21cm x 28cm, 35.5cm x 41.5cm including the frame.

Provenance: previously part of a private French collection.