An Aya (Nurse)

This artwork titled Aya (nurse) is a part of a series of four Company School paintings attributed to artist Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Karraya. These paintings were made at Calcutta and are dated to c. 1840. Shaikh Muhammad Amir is one of the most renowned artists of colonial era, who was patronised by the Company School and mainly produced artworks for European patrons in Calcutta. He specialised in portrayal of the houses, servants, horses, carriages and domestic life of the British residents and was known for adapting Indian painting traditions to the European expectations of the colonial officials. His works frequently portrayed individual servants and people of different occupations as carefully observed figures. This painting depicts an ayah, a woman domestic attendant who was usually employed for the care of children. Here, she is depicted as an individual figure rather than being shown as part of a narrative scene, which was characteristic of Amir's treatment of servants and occupations. The plain background allows attention to be directed towards the woman - her clothing, posture and physical appearance. Such occupational portraits were often produced as parts of albums containing portrayals of different servants, trades and occupations. This painting is a part of an album which includes the aya alongside Dewan (financial secretary), a Chuprasee), a Bharee (porter) and other people. This painting, like Amir’s other works demonstrates the interest of the Company School in observation, categorisation and realistic representation of different people. The aya is depicted here as a recognisable occupational type. At the same time, the image also reflects the colonial social structure in which Indian domestic labour was represented for European patrons and audiences. Amir's paintings of servants therefore function as portraits of individuals and as visual records of the domestic organisation of colonial Calcutta. The painting also documents the visibility of Indian domestic workers within European households while reflecting the colonial tendency of officials to classify people according to occupation and social function. The choice of an aya is interesting as women working as childcare attendants occupied an important position within the domestic life of British families in nineteenth-century colonial India.