Osian's Auction Catalogue ABC Series III | March 2007

ABC Series III 163 199 Kashmir Postcards A Set of 20 Postcards of Kashmir featuring Baramulla, Lider Valley, Gulmarg and Srinagar 5.5 x 3.5 in (14.0 x 9.0 cm) INR 4,000 – 5,000 USD 90 – 100 (Set of 20) ‘Although Kashmir was outside the British Raj and visited by less than 1,000 Europeans each year during the 1860s, its visual beauty was the best selling photographic subject…The majority of prizes from 1861 to 1875 were awarded to photographs of Kashmir…Photographs of Kashmir were critical to the aesthetic development of the medium in the subcontinent.’ Omar Khan, From Kashmir To Kabul. Ahmedabad, Mapin Publishing, 2002; p.61. 200 Delhi and Agra Postcards A Set of 50 Postcards monuments in Delhi and Agra including the Kutab Minar, Fort Delhi, Fort Agra and Etmaduddaula Tomb 5.5 x 3.5 in (14.0 x 9.0 cm) INR 10,000 – 12,500 USD 250 – 300 (Set of 50) ‘…architecture is a kind of memoir. A piece of construction, the making of a building, even the viewing of a monument, is a form of autobiography – as personal an autobiography as an architect can write…And to that degree architecture is a canvas of confession…The presence of buildings around us provides a persistent frame of reference… Through them, architecture becomes a treasure-trove of unfolding links and discoveries, connecting histories of culture to expressions of style and personal histories, making the past visible in the present.’ Gautam Bhatia, A Moment in Architecture. New Delhi, Tulika Books, 2002; pp.1-2.