The ruler of Jaipur, Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II (1830-80) was, among other things, a photographer. He collected photos, joined the photography society in Calcutta, and experimented with his art. Sawai Ram Singh shines with his self portraits, and the pictures he makes of the women in his zenana.

I love this picture of an unnamed sitter. She’s perched elegantly on the edge of her chair, a bit lost in thought, perhaps shy. She is clad in leheriya— a dying technique that forms “waves” on the fabric. This and many other portraits in the collection of the MSMSII Museum, City Palace Jaipur, are an archive of lost fashion, waiting to be carefully examined.