Rickshaw art of Bangladesh: history, UNESCO, painters and prices

What is rickshaw art?

Rickshaw art is the hand-painted decoration on Bangladesh's cycle rickshaws: film stars, birds, village scenes, flowers and lettering in bright enamel paint, with tassels, plastic flowers and tinsel on top. Dhaka is its home, and in 2023 UNESCO added it to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Today it survives mostly off the rickshaw, on trays, kettles and tin panels, and that is where a buyer can still help keep it alive.

Almost every part of a rickshaw can be painted, but the best-known piece is the back plate: a rectangular metal plate behind the seat with a single scene on it. UNESCO calls the whole thing "a roving exhibition", because rickshaws move slowly enough for people to look.

The work is split between two trades. Painters, men and women, paint the tin plates and the flower-patterned plastic sheets at home. A master *mistri* (craftsman) in a workshop, always a man, then sews and fits them onto the hood and body. The paint is enamel, not the acrylic a canvas painter uses, thinned with turpentine and kerosene. One rickshaw takes a painter about a week.

How did rickshaw art begin?

Rickshaw painting took off in Dhaka in the 1950s, a decade or two after the first rickshaws arrived.

• 1930s and 1940s: the rickshaws arrive. The first rickshaw in what is now Bangladesh reached Chattogram from Rangoon, and Dhaka's first came from Kolkata in the 1930s. The city had 37 rickshaws in 1941 and 181 in 1947.
• 1950s: the painting starts. Painters such as R. K. Das, Alauddin, Alinur and Daud Ustad copied faces and scenes from cinema posters. Decoration also helped rickshaw owners compete with the horse-drawn *tomtom* for passengers.
• Late 1960s and mid-1970s: the bans. When painting people on rickshaws was banned, painters told stories with animals instead. After 1971 they painted the Liberation War, and by the early 1980s film stars in sunglasses were the look.
• 1998: a city of rickshaws. Dhaka's municipality counted 112,572 of them, each one a canvas.
• 1999: the biggest show. Alliance Française in Dhaka exhibited 500 works by rickshaw and baby-taxi painters.
• 2000s: digital prints. Cheap printed plates arrived in the early 2000s and took away most of the painters' work.
• 2023: UNESCO. Rickshaws and rickshaw painting in Dhaka joined UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

When did UNESCO recognise rickshaw art?

On 6 December 2023. At its 18th session in Kasane, Botswana, UNESCO's intergovernmental committee inscribed "Rickshaws and rickshaw painting in Dhaka" on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was Bangladesh's fifth listing, after jamdani weaving, Shital Pati weaving, Baul songs and the Mongol Shobhajatra.

The listing covers the whole craft: the painters, the workshop craftsmen, and the rickshaws as moving pictures in the city.

What do the pictures mean?

The pictures carry the hopes of the people who pull and ride the rickshaws: home, faith, film and the village left behind.

• Film stars and cinema scenes. Faces were often painted in blue or pink, the way cinema posters showed them.
• Village scenes and birds. Mohammad Hanif Pappu showed AFP a quiet rural scene with birds and a house: "It's a message of peace," he said, a reminder of the countryside many Dhaka workers left behind.
• Animals acting out stories. These spread when human figures were banned.
• Faith and blessings. Painted lines such as "Allah Bhorosha" (God is my trust), "Mayer Doa" (a mother's prayer) or "Mone Rekho" (remember me), wrapped in vines.
• History and landmarks. Liberation War scenes and national heroes; the National Memorial, the Parliament building and the Shaheed Minar; and, a long-time favourite, the Taj Mahal.
• Legends. The winged Buraq, Aladdin's lamp, princesses, palaces and mermaids.
• Regional flavour. Rickshaws in Sylhet carried more religious messages; in Khulna, trains and aeroplanes.

Who still paints rickshaw art?

A handful of older painters in Old Dhaka, and a few students they now train. Nobo Kumar Bhadra told The Business Standard in 2025 that there were 83 skilled rickshaw artists less than 25 years ago, and barely a handful today.

• Syed Ahmed Hossain has painted rickshaws since 1969 and shown his work from Britain to Japan. With little rickshaw work left, he sells painted tin panels as artwork.
• Mohammad Hanif Pappu began on cinema banners in the late 1960s and has painted rickshaws since 1976. In August 2025 he opened Pappu's Art School for All at 38 Hossaini Dalan Road, a free weekend class in rickshaw painting.
• Md Rafiqul Islam of Narinda started at 15 under his uncle Alauddin, a well-known rickshaw painter, and has won a Bengal Foundation award. His last painting for a working rickshaw was in 2019.
• Nobo Kumar Bhadra painted film banners before turning to rickshaws in the late 1980s, and held his eighth solo show in January 2025.

They don't agree on what UNESCO's listing has done. "After the international recognition, there has been more harm," Pappu told Prothom Alo in 2025. "Now it's a rich man's art." Syed Ahmed Hossain's fix: allow only pedal rickshaws in Old Dhaka, and require hand-painted pictures on them.

What does rickshaw art cost?

A hand-painted piece for your home costs a few thousand taka. Prices depend on what you buy, a set for a rickshaw or an object for your home, and hand-painted always costs more than printed.

Rickshaw art prices at a glance

• The gap between print and paint. Rafiqul Islam put a full hand-painted set at ৳8,000 to ৳10,000 in 2025, against about ৳300 for a print. That gap is why the work dried up.
• Paintings for the wall. Rafiqul told The Business Standard in 2022 that a painting sells for ৳2,000 to ৳3,000 at an exhibition, while the same picture earns him ৳500 on a rickshaw.
• Trays, kettles and furniture. In October 2026 BeshiDeshi listed hand-painted trays at ৳1,200 to ৳2,200, kettle sets with a tray at ৳3,700 to ৳4,500 and a ceramic teapot set at ৳6,200. Buriganga Craft listed a five-piece painted steel teapot set at ৳2,500, and Bibi Russell a large painted aluminium kettle at ৳2,887.50.
• Commissions. A name plate or a custom panel is priced by size, lettering and the painter. Agree the size, wording, colours and delivery date before you pay an advance.

Our view: if you can, buy from a painter, even if it's one tray. Printed rickshaw-art mugs and sunglasses are fine souvenirs, but they pay a printer, not a painter.

Hand-painted or printed: how can you tell?

Look closely, ask who painted it, and expect hand-painted work to cost more.

• Zoom in with your phone. Tiny coloured dots or a regular grid mean a print.
• Check where the colours meet. Enamel brushwork leaves slightly raised edges and small wobbles. A print is perfectly flat.
• Ask for the painter's name. Printed rickshaw art is a fair, cheaper option, but it should be sold as a print.

Painted enamel also lasts. Rafiqul Islam says hand-painted rickshaw art stays the same for years through sun, storms and rain.

Rickshaw art in fashion and home decor

Rickshaw art left the rickshaw and moved into clothes and homes from the early 2000s. It now turns up on sarees, salwar kameez and kurtis, on cushion covers and wall pieces, and on furniture. Aarong, Chandan and Jatra are among the fashion houses that made it a familiar look, and Jatra sells rickshaw-painted lampshades. The oldest painters now work on tables, chairs, hurricane lamps, kettles, trays and mirrors, and on designs for saris and sunglasses, often for companies that sell them. Brands such as Biskut Factory print rickshaw-style images on T-shirts, kettles and sunglasses.

Most of this is printed, which is fine for clothes. For the wall, look for a hand-painted tin panel: it's light, bright and easy to hang. Our wall hanging price guide covers hanging it, and our painting price guide covers other painted wall art.

Where can you buy rickshaw art in Dhaka?

• Old Dhaka. Bangsal Road has about a dozen workshops that paint, decorate and upholster rickshaws, and painters such as Pappu work from Hossaini Dalan and take commissions. Go in person, and agree the price before work starts.
• Craft shops. BeshiDeshi, Buriganga Craft and Bibi Russell sell hand-painted trays, kettles and furniture online. Aarong and Jatra carry rickshaw-art clothing and home pieces.
• Exhibitions. Rickshaw painters hold shows in Dhaka, where souvenirs and paintings are on sale. Buying there puts money straight into a painter's hands.

Taking a gift abroad? A painted tray or tin panel packs flat; see our guide to gifts from Bangladesh. If you paint rickshaw art yourself, JADUZ is looking for makers: see selling on JADUZ.

Can you learn rickshaw painting?

Yes. Pappu's Art School for All teaches rickshaw painting free at weekends at 38 Hossaini Dalan Road in Old Dhaka. To start at home, copy a simple back-plate scene, such as a bird or a village house, in bright, flat colours. Use enamel on tin for the real effect, or acrylic on board while you practise.