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The Ravi Varma Press

AB / STUDY

In 1894 the painter Raja Ravi Varma started India's first oleograph and chromolithographic press in Bombay, first at Girgaum and then at Ghatkopar. In 1899 he moved it to Malavli near Lonavala. He worked with the German printer Fritz Schleicher, and in 1901 transferred the press to him. The press printed images of gods and goddesses and scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata in very large numbers, and carried them into ordinary homes.

The pieces here are lithographic printing stones and related items in that tradition. A stone is the surface the picture was drawn on, and every print was pulled from it. These are shown for study, and enquiries about acquiring one go to Mr. Shyam Babu Naidu. The house records the age, source and chain of title of each stone in writing, and will say plainly what it knows and what it does not. Write to the house to see that record. Read more about Raja Ravi Varma and his press.

Every work, in a list

AB / GALLERY

Prices are on request. The artist of a work is named in writing when the house issues its record; no attribution is printed until it can be evidenced. See also the Works page and how a work looks on your wall.

Speak to the house

Buying and private salesMr. Shyam Babu Naidu+91 70212 36700WhatsApp
Exhibitions and viewingsMr. Yashwant Naidu+91 98674 36486WhatsApp
Artists and curationMr. Prakash Bal Joshi+91 98690 14555WhatsApp
The FounderMs. Sonu Agarwal+91 75062 45556WhatsApp
The Chairman's officeMr. Ashwin Agarwal+91 93230 05554WhatsApp
Client AdvisoryMr. Arnav AgarwalGet in touchWhatsApp

Own a Ravi Varma print, oleograph or stone?

AB / OPINION

1 · Send four photographs

What we need to see

The front, all four margins, the back, and one taken in raking light. Add the size and anything printed or stamped on it.

2 · A written opinion

What you receive

Whether it is a stone, an early oleograph, a later offset reprint or a photograph, what the printing marks show, and what is still unknown.

3 · The law, plainly

Before anything is sold or moved

An object more than a hundred years old is an antiquity under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972. It may need registration and cannot leave India without a permit. We tell you what applies first.

Email the photographs Message on WhatsApp How to tell an oleograph from a reprint