Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c16.106

c16.106

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Portuguese soldiers began to penetrate in the interior of Bengal. The local potters portrayed them in clay. The newcomers were ease-loving in their habits and sometimes wanton, given to a life of drunkenness and shikār. Two plaques from Jessore depict scenes of revelry and hunting. One of them shows a Portuguese soldier on horseback followed by a foot-soldier carrying shield and sword with a hound running by the side of the horse. The rider is wearing a hat, a tunic, full-boots, and trousers and carries a sword and a shield. With his left hand he holds the reins of the horse and in his right hand a whip. The second plaque shows a Portuguese General seated on an easy-chair and drinking from an inverted wine jug directed towards his mouth. In front of him are two soldiers, one of them holding a drinking cup.