Completed Critique Dafadar , Governor's general bodyguard, India 1912

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G

gioazz

Active Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
Messages
572
Ciao a tutti,

I've started to paint this really old figure from Chota Sahib.

I love vintage figures, you can find interestings subjects.

I've finished the face, still finishing the back of the turbant and have to touch-up the red tunic.

I've used the iridescent white oil colour from Winsor & Newton, to give a silk effect to the turbant, convincing effect, not really visible in the pictures unfortunately.

Comments are, as usual, welcome.

Ciao

Giovanni
 

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Yes these old CS figures were great, I especially liked the Arnhem para carrying his wounded buddy. Very nice start indeed. Keep us up to speed.(y)
 
davidmitchell said:
Great start Giovanni,think I will look out some of my old figures.


Cheers David
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Ciao David,

Thanks so much, you should get and paint some of your old figures!

Ciao

Giovanni

gordy said:
Nice work on the turban! (y)
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Thanks Gordy!

tonydawe said:
Lovely painting Giovanni. Love the reds and the turban.
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Thanks so much Tony!

megroot said:
Awesome work. That Turban is outstanding.
Everything painted in oils??

Marc
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Ciao Marc, turban and face are in oils, the tunic in acrylic

rheath said:
Yes these old CS figures were great, I especially liked the Arnhem para carrying his wounded buddy. Very nice start indeed. Keep us up to speed.(y)
Click to expand...

Yep, I can't agree more, lovely range of figures, maybe not always the best sculptures, but amazing characters!

Grazie

housecarl said:
Looks a great start Giovanni.
Carl.
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Thanks Carl, I'm glad you like it!

Ciao

Giovanni
 
billyturnip said:
I've been contemplating an Indian army subject myself and looking at this has made up my mind. Nice work so far Giovanni.

Roger.
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Hi Billy

Is such a beautiful era and you can find beautiful uniforms.

Thanks so much

Giovanni

HIKARU said:
Beautiful red!
The tone of the hat is also wonderful.
Great progress!

Mitsutaka
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Thanks so much Mitsutaka

I'm glad you like it.

Ciao

Giovanni
 
Great looking figure Giovanni and the work you have done on the turban looks excellent, i can see the silk effect quite well.

Steve(y)
 
Hi Giovvani
Finally after a long time I see an issue that I quite like, and see how the vapsi quite beautiful and very good at dyeing a turban ...


Alexandros
 
Not only is this painting up really nicely, but it is a delight to see these old Indian figures by Chota Sahib, again. Their Indian figures were quite accurate, but let me add a couple of minor points from two sources, Tradition, No.50 and Indian Army Uniforms: Cavalry, by W.Y. Carman, which are a little hard to come by.
Your daffadar is a Sikh, and the little corner of cloth on his forehead below the turban is the only visible part of his cloth skullcap or pug. It should be red.
By your guy's time the Bodyguard had stopped pretending to be hussars and were playing at lancers instead, with "lancer piping" as you have shown, but these stripes, including those around the fake plastron would be of the dark blue facing color, though it often appears black in pix.
The front of the "frock coat" (not really an Alkhalak as stated in regulations) has a slit from the waist down. This does not appear to be bordered with the facing color.
The gauntlets on your guy are a little long. The cuff lace (knot) should show above the top edge -- easily arranged.
I hope that this helps. Good luck with your fine painting.
 
1969 said:
Great looking figure Giovanni and the work you have done on the turban looks excellent, i can see the silk effect quite well.

Steve(y)
Click to expand...

I Steve,

I'm glad you like the figure and you noticed the silk effect.

Ciao

Giovanni

sarouman said:
Hi Giovvani
Finally after a long time I see an issue that I quite like, and see how the vapsi quite beautiful and very good at dyeing a turban ...


Alexandros
Click to expand...

Ciao Alexandros,

Thanks for your kind words, this figure is a joy to paint.

Ciao

Giovanni
 
PhilinYuma said:
Not only is this painting up really nicely, but it is a delight to see these old Indian figures by Chota Sahib, again. Their Indian figures were quite accurate, but let me add a couple of minor points from two sources, Tradition, No.50 and Indian Army Uniforms: Cavalry, by W.Y. Carman, which are a little hard to come by.
Your daffadar is a Sikh, and the little corner of cloth on his forehead below the turban is the only visible part of his cloth skullcap or pug. It should be red.
By your guy's time the Bodyguard had stopped pretending to be hussars and were playing at lancers instead, with "lancer piping" as you have shown, but these stripes, including those around the fake plastron would be of the dark blue facing color, though it often appears black in pix.
The front of the "frock coat" (not really an Alkhalak as stated in regulations) has a slit from the waist down. This does not appear to be bordered with the facing color.
The gauntlets on your guy are a little long. The cuff lace (knot) should show above the top edge -- easily arranged.
I hope that this helps. Good luck with your fine painting.
Click to expand...

Hi philip,

Your comments are really appreciate, let me recap and understand better.

The piping will be dark blue, as the collar, what you see in the picture is only the base colour.

Not sure what you mean when you say" The front of the "frock coat" (not really an Alkhalak as stated in regulations) has a slit from the waist down. This does not appear to be bordered with the facing color." can you clarify?

The cuff lace top edge has been sculpted an is there, simply have't paint it yet, from various pjctures and books I have the gauntlet seems of the right lenght, but I maybe wrong.

Very interesting your comment about the skullcap or pug, I didn't know have to be red, will amend it for sure.

Thanks so much.

Giovanni
 
Yes, now that I reread it, Giovanni, it doesn't look too clear to me, either!. As you know, Indian cavalrymen in "native" dress, generally wore one of two kinds of "frock coat". Both were traditional garments, the Kurta and the Alkhalak, and both had a "skirt" worn over trousers or pantaloons and reaching to the knees. To make it possible for the wearer to mount and ride a horse, there were slits below the waist, either front or back as in the case with your guy, or at the sides.
Now it gets complicated! Until the 1897 changes, the Bodyguard wore a recognizable Alkhalak with the half-moon yolk or purdah in front with gold facings, but in 1897, the facings became dark blue, and the yolk was changed to a lancer's plastron with dark blue trim, while retaining the skirt, a very idiosyncratic change that was not copied by the Bodyguards of Madras, Bombay or Calcutta.
The question that I raised concerns the slit down the front of the skirt. In the pre-1897 uniform, other ranks had it trimmed with gold to match the upper part of the uniform, but in pictures that show the facing to be a dark enough blue to be virtually black, it is hard to tell if the trim on the plaston is extended down the edge of the slit, or whether the dark line is simply there to show that the slit existed. I carefully looked at all of A.H. Bowling's little soldiers in his Indian Cavalry Regiments, and still couldn't be sure, because this is such a strange uniform, but my guess is that it was untrimmed.
So much work for such a piddling result, but for those of us who enjoy this sort of thing, it's all part of the fun!
If this still leaves you confused, please contact me.
 
PhilinYuma said:
Yes, now that I reread it, Giovanni, it doesn't look too clear to me, either!. As you know, Indian cavalrymen in "native" dress, generally wore one of two kinds of "frock coat". Both were traditional garments, the Kurta and the Alkhalak, and both had a "skirt" worn over trousers or pantaloons and reaching to the knees. To make it possible for the wearer to mount and ride a horse, there were slits below the waist, either front or back as in the case with your guy, or at the sides.
Now it gets complicated! Until the 1897 changes, the Bodyguard wore a recognizable Alkhalak with the half-moon yolk or purdah in front with gold facings, but in 1897, the facings became dark blue, and the yolk was changed to a lancer's plastron with dark blue trim, while retaining the skirt, a very idiosyncratic change that was not copied by the Bodyguards of Madras, Bombay or Calcutta.
The question that I raised concerns the slit down the front of the skirt. In the pre-1897 uniform, other ranks had it trimmed with gold to match the upper part of the uniform, but in pictures that show the facing to be a dark enough blue to be virtually black, it is hard to tell if the trim on the plaston is extended down the edge of the slit, or whether the dark line is simply there to show that the slit existed. I carefully looked at all of A.H. Bowling's little soldiers in his Indian Cavalry Regiments, and still couldn't be sure, because this is such a strange uniform, but my guess is that it was untrimmed.
So much work for such a piddling result, but for those of us who enjoy this sort of thing, it's all part of the fun!
If this still leaves you confused, please contact me.
Click to expand...

Hi Philip,

It does make more sense, still, there are things unclear, one question, does the uniform looks ok to you? from my documentation seems correct.

I would love to check your documentation or at least your bibliography.

Thanks so much

Giovanni
 

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