A Rajput prince with a sword and dagger, holding a lotus blossom

1890. Ink and gouache with gold heightening on fibrous, brown laid paper, with a Jaipur Court Fee tax stamp in purple ink on the recto, 12 1/2 x 9 inches (318 x 230 mm). Toning, handling creases and minor scattered surface soiling throughout. There are scattered coeval inscriptions in ink on the recto and verso. The first revenue stamps in India were issued in the mid-nineteenth century during the Raj, and they are still being issued to this day. Apart from issues for the whole of India, many princely states, provinces, and other states also had (or still have) their own revenue stamp issues. Before independence, Indian revenue stamps were closely modeled on similar designs from Great Britain, as is the case with this carriage motif stamp from Jaipur.

The stamps were issued to denote various denominations, including rupees and annas. An anna (or ānna) was a currency unit formerly used in British India, equal to 1⁄16 of a rupee. It was subdivided into four (old) Paisa or twelve pies (thus there were 192 pies in a rupee). When the rupee was decimalized and subdivided into 100 (new) paise, one anna was therefore equivalent to 6.25 paise. This particular stamp was used as evidence of court taxes remitted for property dealings.