The bold use of primary colors and unusual face composition that predominated in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in the Western Himalayan foothills of Jammu and Kashmir are characteristics of Basohli paintings. Hindu mythology, Mughal miniature painting skills, and the folk art of the surrounding hills were combined to create the oldest painting school, the Basohli school, which developed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The artform

Hard-to-find veale paper or an ivory sheet is used as the canvas for a Basohli painting. Special brushes are made from squirrel hair or kalmunha bird feathers, and colors are painstakingly mixed from dried flowers, leaves, beetle wings, and khadiya earth. Pure silver and 24-carat gold are used for ornamentation.

GI Tag

This unique style of painting known for its bold and bright colors along with peculiar facial forms received the GI tag in 2023.