Indian Bone Playing Card

Cross-legged figure sits calmly on a platform while two women kneel below with hands raised.

This painted bone playing card is from India, and dates to the early 20th century. It is pigment & bone. Playing cards reached India in the early modern period, and the best-known Indian form is the circular ganjifa, traditionally painted by hand in sets of eight or twelve suits. Small round panel with a dotted gold rim. A seated figure with a round face sits on a rug before a draped red backdrop above a lattice-patterned wall. Two kneeling women in veils and orange or yellow skirts occupy the foreground. It is 1.75 inches in diameter.

Serene above, devout below, composed throughout.