Indian gentleman

Abalal Rahiman, the first thing that catches your attention is the quiet composure of the sitter and the rich contrast of colours. The painting depicts an Indian gentleman seated comfortably in a dark, hand-carved wooden armchair inside a softly lit salon. Soft daylight streams through a lace-curtained window on the right, illuminating a small vase of flowers on a nearby side table and casting gentle reflections across the patterned floor tiles. The man's attire offers a clear glimpse into the fashion choices of high-society figures in late nineteenth-century India: he wears fitted white churidar trousers beneath a dark tailored jacket, crowned by a vivid turquoise turban decorated with glistening gold thread. What makes this piece truly remarkable is how the artist merged two completely different creative worlds. Rahiman (1860–1931) was born in Kolhapur to a family of traditional illuminators who specialised in gilding sacred Quranic manuscripts. After receiving a royal scholarship from the local Maharaja, he spent years studying Western oil painting at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Bombay, mastering techniques like perspective, scale, and lighting. Rather than abandoning his family's heritage to adopt European styles, Rahiman combined them on this $60.2 \times 45.0\text{ cm}$ oil-on-paper painting mounted on canvas. He applied real metallic gold leaf directly onto the painted folds of the turban, adapting traditional manuscript gilding straight onto an oil portrait. Signed "A. Rahaman" near the lower corner, the artwork stands as an authentic visual record of how Indian artists and elites blended local heritage with colonial influences. Rahiman’s innovative technique helped pave the way for the Kolhapur School of Naturalism, leaving a lasting mark on subsequent generations of painters and early Indian film set designers.