Indian Bone Playing Card

Blue figure sits on a garden swing, surrounded by attendants in bright skirts.

This painted bone playing card is from India, and dates to the early 20th century. It is pigment & bone. Games with cards or tokens were played at courts and in homes across South Asia, and the pieces were sometimes made in costly materials for royal use. Circular panel with an arched green backdrop and a red lattice floor. A blue-skinned figure and a seated woman share a swing hung from a frame, with four attendants in yellow, orange and green around them. Gold dots edge the rim. It is 1.75 inches in diameter.

The brightest corner of a very dark little collection.