Photograph of a group of men from Rajasthan in northern India, posed with their agricultural implements, taken by Eugene Clutterbuck Impey in the early 1860s, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. In the 19th century the Government of India commissioned photographers to record the vast diversity of people and their dress, manners, trades, customs and religions. Capt. E.C. Impey of the Bengal Staff Corps was appointed to cover the areas of Delhi, Agra and Rajasthan. There was also a rising interest in ethnography across Europe; ethnographical prints were produced by large photographic firms operating in India as well as by smaller or temporary studios. Figures were often posed to display their characteristic attributes and artefacts.
