At the Apothecary's, North India, Punjab, circa 1870, attributed to Bishan Singh or his workshop Gouache and gold on paper depicting an apothecary sitting in his shop. Dressed entirely in white and leaning against cushions, he is holding the wrist of a woman richly adorned with jewels and her head covered with a green veil. Around the seller are various working tools, scales, mortars and pestles, a weighing box and bowls, and a sieve hangs on the wall behind him. In the background are the products of his shop: stacked terracotta pots, several large baskets overflowing with coloured seeds and dried plants, and on the shelves, bottles and jars containing various concoctions. The scene is framed by three blue lines. 26.7 x 20.5 cm Freckles, small stains. A Painting with an Apothecary, North India, Punjab, c. 1870, attributed to Bishan Singh or his Workshop The scene depicted in this painting of an apothecary is striking for the realism of the people and objects it contains. The artist has captured the scene on the spot: the man with half-open lips is talking to the woman whose wrist he is grasping as if to examine the origin of her illness and seek the appropriate remedy. The painter has finely rendered the hairiness of the seller's beard, the folds of his turban and clothes, the puckering at the ends of the cushions and the fibres of the mat on which the protagonists are seated, showing particular care in the treatment of the materials. Some of the working tools, such as the scales and the brass mortar, as well as the client's rich finery, are highly detailed, and the eye is drawn to bright splashes of colour, particularly on the cushions and the veil covering the woman's head and shoulders. Finally, the space in which the scene takes place is controlled, with volume and depth emphasised by the receding ceiling beams. The combination of these stylistic features suggests a link between this unsigned painting and the work of the painter Bishan Singh (1836-1900). Bishan Singh came from a large family of Punjabi artists active in Amritsar and Lahore in the second half of the 19th century. Responsible for the mural decoration of the great Sikh holy places, the family is particularly well known in religious circles. Bishan, who won the Grand Prize for Painting at the Punjab Exhibition of Arts and Crafts in 1864, excelled in this field, as demonstrated by his Golden Temple of Amritsar in the Davinder Toor collection in London. He is best known for his majestic depictions of the court of the famous "Lion of the Punjab", the first Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh (r. 1801-1839). One of these, dated 1864, is also in the Toor Collection. In each of his works, Bishan Singh shines through his sense of detail and his concern for realism, painting an almost documentary picture of his time. The softness of his outlines and the tones used for the setting in which his scenes take place are often contrasted by the use of a few touches of bright colour. A complete artist, Bishan Singh went beyond prestigious religious and princely circles to document the everyday life of his people. The shawl weavers' workshop in the Musée Guimet (no. MA 12702), signed and dated 1874-75, is a famous example. This scene at the apothecary's completes a series of paintings of trades attributed to the artist that have appeared on the international market in recent months: one presented at Christie's, New York, on 20 March 2024, lot 561, depicting cashmere shawl darning workers, another presented at Bonhams, London, on 21 May 2024, lot 190, depicting a butcher, a third presented at Daguerre, Paris, on 7 June 2024, lot 5, depicting cooks, a fourth presented at Ader, Paris, on 2 July 2024, lot 260, depicting a coppersmith. All five are roughly the same size, with the same blue lines framing them, and depict a craft in an architectural setting whose lightness of line contrasts with the liveliness of a few coloured highlights, with orange and green dominating our painting, echoing the tones chosen for the New York work. Expert : Camille CELIER ([email protected])