Asian and African studies blog

Last week the BP exhibition Ming: 50 years that changed China opened at the British Museum. This exhibition documents the years 1400-1450, fifty years which saw the building of the Forbidden City and Beijing established as the capital city of China. It was also a time of intense diplomatic and cultural engagement with Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Some surprising exhibits on view resulting from cultural exchanges include the painting of a giraffe presented to the Yongle Emperor in 1414 as tribute by the Sultan of Bengal, Sayf al-Din Hamza Shah, and ‘The adoration of the Magi’, dating from c. 1495-1505, by the Italian artist Andrea Mantegna, depicting a Ming porcelain bowl. Equally exotic are two British Library 15th century Persian manuscripts, Add.16561 and Add.7759 copied in Shirvan and possibly in Herat on decorated paper exported from Ming China.

Prince entertained in a garden, the opening from an anthology of poetry produced in Shamakhi (Shirvan) in 873/1468, North Provincial Timurid style painting on Ming decorated paper (British Library Add.16561, ff. 1v-2r)

There were several missions exchanged between the Timurids and the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402-24). After Timur's death, the first Chinese embassy to Shahrukh arrived in Herat in 815/1412. A second embassy arrived in Rabiʻ I 820/April 1417 with three hundred horsemen and gifts and presents sent by the Emperor of China consisting of falcons, brocades, velvets, silks, porcelain vessels and Chinese paper, etc. A third embassy reached Herat in Ramadan 822/October 1419 (see Thackston, p.279, citing the Persian sources Mujmal-i faṣīhī by Fasih al-Din Khvafi, and Maṭlaʻ-i saʻdayn  by ʻAbd al-Razzaq Samarqandi). Return missions also took place with the artist Ghiyas al-Din Naqqash, Baysunghur’s representative, keeping a detailed diary of his journey between December 1419 and August 1422 (see Thackston’s translation below).

Chinese paper was much valued by the Timurids and gave rise to a fashion for using coloured dyes and decorating with gold. It was regarded as good to write on. Slightly tinted paper was considered restful to the eye while dark colours suited coloured inks[1]. Add.16561, pictured below, is a collection of poetry by 12 different authors of the 14th and 15th century. It was copied in 1468 in Shirvan in present day Azerbayjan by Sharaf al-Din Husayn, a royal scribe, possibly at the court of the Shirvanshah Farrukh Yasar (1462-1501). The manuscript contains one double-page and seven single miniatures. The paper is highly polished and dyed different shades of pink, mauve and yellow/green, decorated with large flecks of gold.

Opening to the Dīvān of the 14th century poet Kamal Khujandi on highly polished gold flecked dyed paper. Copied by Sharaf al-Din Husayn Sultani, dated Shamakhi (Shirvan) at the beginning of Rabiʻ II 873/ Oct.1468  (British Library Add.16561, ff 2-3)

The second of the two manuscripts on display is Add.7759, the Dīvān of Hafiz, copied by Sulayman al-Fushanji in Ramazan 855/October 1451. Although no place is mentioned in the colophon, the name of the scribe may be connected to Fushanj in the province of Herat, Afghanistan, possibly suggesting Herat as a place of origin. The paper is unusually heavy and includes 31 pages decorated with Chinese ornamentation of which seven can be identified as containing designs of bamboos, pomegranates and other plants while twelve show Chinese landscapes and buildings. The paper is coloured various shades of orange, pink, blue, yellow/green, grey and purple.

A Chinese palace set against a background of mountains and lakes, with pine trees in the foreground (British Library Add.7759, f. 3r)

Facing pages of the Dīvān of Hafiz. Copied by Sulayman al-Fushanji in Ramazan 855/October 1451 (British Library Add.7759, ff. 60v-61r)

In her study of the New York Public Library Makhzan al-asrār (Spencer Persian 41), dated 25 Jumada I 883/24 August 1478, Priscilla Soucek demonstrated, by reconstructing several examples, that the decorated Chinese paper had originally been in the form of sheets which were painted before being cut up. A further example of the same feature can be seen in folios 17r and 10v below where the outlines of the mountains on the two pages are almost contiguous. As in the New York manuscript, the designs in Add.7759 are at right angles to the text.

Folios 17r (left) and 10v (right), formed from the same sheet of paper (British Library Add.7759)

Both Add.7759 and Add.16561 have now been fully digitized and will be published on the Library’s Digitised Manuscripts page during the next few months. This will hopefully allow a much needed detailed study to be made of the paper.

Ming: 50 years that changed China is open at the British Museum until 5 January 2015. An illustrated catalogue of the same title by the exhibition curators Craig Clunas and Jessica Harrison-Hall is available from the British Museum shop.

 
Further reading

W. M. Thackston, “Report to Mirza Baysunghur on the Timurid Legation to the Ming Court at Peking” in A century of princes: sources on Timurid history and art. Cambridge, Mass, 1989, pp. 279-97

David J. Roxburgh,The Persian Album, 1400-1600: From Dispersal to Collection. Yale University, 2005, pp. 159-165

Priscilla Soucek, “The New York Public Library ‘Makhzan al-asrār’ and Its Importance, Ars Orientalis 18 (1988), pp. 1-37

Sheila S. Blair, “Color and Gold: The Decorated Papers used in Manuscripts in later Islamic Times,” Muqarnas 17 (2000), pp. 24-36

N. Titley, Persian Miniature Painting and Its Influence on the Art of Turkey and India: The British Library Collections. London, 1984, pp. 240-41

Related articles

The Khamsah of Nizami: A Timurid Masterpiece

A Khamsah ascribed to the painter Bihzad (Add. 25900)

The making and meaning of Ming: 50 years that changed China

Our guest blogger Celia Fisher is an art historian and plantswoman who has written extensively on the history of plants in art. Her new book Magic of Birds is based on the collections at the British Library (published September 2014). Celia writes:

The Magic of Birds – my new book published by the British Library this month – ranges across time and continents, exploring the ways in which artists, poets, storytellers and explorers have depicted birds. Although the book is not entirely about birds from the East, they appear throughout. One chapter is devoted to the Eastern fables – including the search for the legendary simurgh – which gave Persian and Mughal artists the opportunity to depict gatherings of curious and beautiful birds. In the West the concept of the simurgh developed into the phoenix, but it was originally believed to be an inhabitant of the Far East, where it was depicted as an enormous pheasant. The techniques and mysticism of Chinese and Japanese album paintings are described at this point, and also spill over into other chapters. For instance ‘Decorative Birds’, as well as peacocks, includes a crane flying against the sun from a Japanese album, and a keen-eyed cormorant juxtaposed to those which twist around the pages of the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Page from Tennen hyakkaku, ‘Tennen’s one hundred cranes’ by Kaigai Tennen, Kyoto, 1900. Orb40/964 vol.3 f.17r.

The first chapter, entitled ‘Creation and Diversity’, begins with God creating the birds, travels through the discovery of new continents, and ends with Alfred Wallace’s descriptions of birds of paradise, which had been traded across Asia for centuries before they contributed to his theory of evolution. The chapter on ‘Freedom, Hunting and Captivity’ features the Mughal Emperor Babur with the bird-catchers of Kabul, as well as his ancestor Tamburlaine hunting peacocks; and contrasts two fierce-eyed hawks from a Japanese album, one flying free across the mountains, the other itself a tethered captive. When ‘The Symbolism of Birds’ is discussed, the use of cockerels for divination as well as food – and cockfighting – proves a world-wide phenomenon, but all domesticated poultry are descended from the red jungle fowl of central South East Asia. Their spread towards Europe and America happened surprisingly early, while China became the centre for developing rare breeds. Another widespread phenomenon is a fear of owls as birds of ill-omen, and in the chapter on that theme Dürer’s owl is set beside two horned owls perched on a ruined palace, discussing the fate of the Persian Emperor Anurshirvan’s troubled domains. On a lighter note, the section on ‘Winged Spirits and Messengers’ includes the hoopoe which acted as a messenger between Solomon and Sheba; the varied messenger pigeons bred by the Mughal Emperors; and the Hindu god Garuda flying to the rescue.

The crow deciding whether the owl should lead the assembly of birds. A miniature painting from Anvar-i Suhayli, a version of the Kalila va Dimna fables, India, 1610–11. Add. Or. 18579 f.210v.

Added to this sumptuously illustrated background of South Asian and Far Eastern beliefs relating to birds, there are many images and descriptions taken from the early European publications on the natural history of birds. These include the wonders of the East, hornbills and kingfishers, parrots and dodos, not to mention the birds of Australia, and they provide the balance of scientific bird illustration, alongside fascinating descriptions of bird behaviour and – once again – their relationship to humans, including humour.  

The Magic of Birds is available now (hardback, £20, ISBN 978 0 7123 5742 5) through the British Library's online shop.

One day symposium: British Library Persian Manuscripts: Collections and Research
British Library Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Friday, 31 October 2014, 9.30-17.30 (Programme details here)

Khusraw and Shirin listen to stories told by Shirin's handmaidens. From Nizami's Khamsah. Painting in Safavid Tabriz style c 1540s,  ascribed to Aqa Mirak (British Library Or.2265, f. 66v)

The British Library is holding a one-day symposium on the theme of digitisation and new research on its collection of Persian manuscripts, one of the most significant in the world in both size and importance. It is currently mid-way through a partnership project with the Iran Heritage Foundation and other supporters to convert catalogue records for Persian manuscripts into digital format as well as to digitise selected items from the Library’s vast collection with a view to making the data freely accessible online to readers worldwide. The main underlying objectives are to aid scholarship on the cultures and history of the Islamicate and Persianate world, and to help preserve this delicate material for posterity. Although only a small number of manuscripts have been digitised to date, the range is expected to grow over the coming years thanks to continued public and private funding.

Progress so far has already facilitated some exciting developments and discoveries. Join project members and scholars to explore the Library's Persian collections and find out more about recent research.

Registration:

Booking will be available from Monday 22 September from British Library Events . Tickets include a light lunch and refreshments and are priced at £15, £12 (over 60s), £10 (concessions).

Speakers:

Dr Sâqib Bâburî, British Library (abstract)
Two new sources for the study of Muḥammad Vājid ʿAlī Shāh in the William Irvine Collection

Dr Bruno De Nicola, University of St Andrews (abstract)
Rashīd al-Dīn’s World History: manuscripts of Jāmi‘ al-tavārīkh in the British Library

Dr Walter N. Hakala, University at Buffalo, SUNY (USA) (abstract)
Minimum taxable knowledge: the niṣāb genre of multilingual vocabularies in verse

Jeremiah Losty, British Library (Emeritus) (abstract)
James Skinner's artists

Dr Stephan Popp, Institut für Iranistik, Vienna (abstract)
Horoscopes as propaganda under Akbar and Shāh Jahān

Dr Katherine Butler Schofield, King’s College, London (abstract)
The confluence of two oceans: Hindustani music in the British Library Persian collections

Dr Emily Shovelton, Independent Scholar (abstract)
Margins of the Divine: the Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan  (British Library Add. 27261)

Dr Eleanor Sims, Editor of Islamic Art and Independent Scholar (abstract)
More from Mashhad? A recently re-discovered illustrated Shahnama manuscript of the 17th century

Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, British Library (abstract)
Niẓāmī through digital eyes: observations on masterworks in the British Library

Further reading

Recent posts on some of our Persian manuscripts:

Indian Music in the Persian Collections: the Javahir al-Musiqat-i Muhammadi (Or.12857). Part 2
Indian Music in the Persian Collections: the Javahir al-Musiqat-i Muhammadi (Or.12857). Part 1
Two Persian ‘Ming’ manuscripts on view at the British Museum
Persian letters from the Nawabs of the Carnatic 1777-1816
James Skinner's Tazkirat al-Umara now digitised
A Khamsah with illustrations ascribed to the painter Bihzad (Add. 25900)
A newly digitised unpublished catalogue of Persian manuscripts and postscript
Some portraits of the Zand rulers of Iran (1751-1794)
The Khamsah of Nizami: A Timurid Masterpiece

For further information: contact Dr. Sâqib Bâburî ([email protected])

Related articles

Persian manuscripts digitisation project

The Khamsah of Nizami: A Timurid Masterpiece

A newly digitised unpublished catalogue of Persian manuscripts: postscript

A newly digitised unpublished catalogue of Persian manuscripts

The British Library’s collections contain many drawings by the amateur artist Sir Charles D’Oyly of the Bengal Civil Service who was based in Calcutta, Dhaka and Patna from 1797 to 1838.  The artist George Chinnery spent much time staying with D’Oyly during the first part of his career and had a great influence on the development of his artistic style.  D’Oyly was a prolific artist and published many books with engravings and lithographs from his drawings.

This post focusses on some of the highlights of one his albums in the Hastings’ Collection acquired in 1995.  The album contains 28 water-colours by D’Oyly of views taken on a journey along the Hooghly, Bhagirathi and Ganges Rivers dated August-October 1820 (WD4404).  The voyage passed many monuments and views made famous by earlier artists such as William Hodges and the Daniells, but with the opening of the direct railway line from Calcutta to Benares, these sites were largely forgotten.  The drawings are of various sizes and are laid down on album pages (18 by 26.5 cm), with inscribed captions on the facing page.  All the drawings have been digitised and may be found on the BL’s website by entering WD 4404.

The Takht Sri Harmandir Patna Sahib.  Inscribed: ‘N2 Gunga Govind Sing’s Temple at the confluence of the Baugrutty and Jalangi Rivers.  Augt 1820.’  WD4404, f.2.

At Kandi the Jalangi came in from the Ganges to the north-east.   This is meant to be a drawing of a temple built by Ganga Gobind Singh there.  Ganga Gobind Singh conducted Warren Hastings’s business affairs and retired with an immense fortune to his native place at Kandi where he erected temples to Krishna. 

Takht Sri Harmandir Patna Sahib

D’Oyly seems to have got his drawings into a muddle since the temples at Kandi are typically Bengali in style whereas the view here shows the Takht Sri Harmandir or Patna Sahib, the gurudwara recently erected by Maharaja Ranjit Singh over the birthplace in Patna in 1660 of the last of the Sikh Gurus, Guru Gobind Singh.  The similarity of their names may have caused D’Oyly’s confusion.

A view looking south beneath the Sangi Dalan of Shah Shuja’s palace at Rajmahal.  Inscribed: ‘N12 Part of the Ruins of the Palace at Rajemahl.  Augt 1820.’  WD4404, f.12. 

Rajmahal was established as the Mughal capital of Bengal in 1592 by Raja Man Singh of Amber, the Subahdar of Bengal.  His successors moved the capital to Dhaka but Shah Shuja’ moved it back again in 1639 and the palace buildings on the river date from his period.

A steep promontory at Pirpainti with ruins by moonlight.  Inscribed: ‘N16 Pointee.  Augt 1820.’  WD4404, f.16.

Pirpainti is a picturesque spot where the Ganges bends southwards round the Rajmahal Hills.  The tomb of an obscure Muslim saint known as Pir Painti is on the hill above the village.

Two of the caves at Patharghat.  Inscribed: ‘N17 Sacred Caves at Putteegotta.’  Augt 1820.  WD4404, f.17. 

At Patharghat just to the east of Bhagalpur a group of five excavated caves with early sculpted reliefs and with adjacent bas-reliefs of the fifth century formed some of the first examples of ancient Hindu sculpture that British travellers up-river would encounter.

Mausoleum of Ibrahim Husain Khan at Bhagalpur.  Inscribed: ‘N19 Mosque at Bhaughulpoor.  Septr 1820.’  WD4404, f.19. 

This view is not of a mosque but of the mausoleum of Ibrahim Husain Khan, built in a late Mughal style in the 18^th century on a bluff above the river.

The Clevland monument.  Inscribed: ‘N20 Monument erected by the natives of the Bhaughulpoor District to the memory of Augustus Clevland Esqr.  Sept 1820.’  WD4404, f.20. 

Augustus Clevland (1755-84) was the Collector and Judge at Bhagalpur who managed to tame the wild Paharia, or hill people, who used to swoop down on the people of the plains from their hilltop fastnesses on top of the Rajmahal Hills.  In 1780 he founded an irregular regiment from these men called the Bhagalpur Hill Rangers.  After his early death in 1784, two memorials were erected to him in Bhagalpur, one in stone sent by the Court of Directors from England (see next), the other, almost a shrine, built by the inhabitants of Bhagalpur. 

Clevland’s monument and house at Bhagalpur.  Inscribed: ‘N23 The Hill House at Bhaughulpore from the South East.  Septr 1820.’  WD4404, f.23. 

This view shows behind a clump of trees the tasteful memorial to Clevland erected by the East India Company while in the distance is Clevland’s own Hill House.

The Digambara Jain temple at Champapur.  ‘Inscribed: N25 Ancient Pillars at Bhaughulpoor & modern Hindoo Temple erected by Juggut Sect.  Septr 1820.’  WD4404, f.25. 

The site at Champapur, the capital of the ancient province of Anga, just west of Bhagalpur, is associated with the 12^th Jain Tirthankara, Basupujya.  The temple was in fact a Jain one apparently renovated in the 18th century by the great banking family of Jagat Seth.  The ancient pillars were a cause of much speculation at the time but are thought to be Kirtistambha or Pillars of Fame. 

The Digambara Jain temple at Champapur.

Further reading

Losty, J.P., ‘A Career in Art: Sir Charles D’Oyly’, in Under the Indian Sun: British Landscape Artists, ed. P. Rohatgi and P. Godrej, Bombay, 1995, pp. 81-106

Rohatgi, P., and P. Godrej, Under the Indian Sun: British Landscape Artists, Bombay, 1995

J.P. Losty, Curator of Visual Arts (Emeritus) 

When I became responsible in 1986 for what was then the Prints and Drawings section of the India Office Library, I spent many pleasurable hours going through the collections, many of which were not yet in printed catalogues.  An unexpected discovery was a group of five drawings from late 18^th century western India in the hinterland of Bombay, an area from which not many paintings were known, whether traditional or done for British patrons.  These five drawings include a self-portrait and four animal studies by the Maratha artist Gangaram Cintaman Tambat from an album compiled around 1790-95 for Charles Warre Malet (1753-1815) of the Bombay Civil Service.  

Self-portrait of the artist with his guru, both seated facing the other in profile.  By Gangaram, 1790.  Inscribed (by Sir Charles Warre Malet): Gungaram by Himself, very like + a very ingenious Person at Poona in the service of CWM, by whom the subsequent native sketches were drawn chiefly from life + His Groo a celebrated holy Hermit near Poona.  Water-colour on paper; 250 by 362 mm.  Add.Or.4145 

Malet’s importance stems from his last posting as the East India Company’s Resident to the court of the Maratha Peshwa at Poona, 1785-97.  The Marathas under the Peshwas, hereditary chief ministers of the Maratha rajas, were the principal power in western India and through their wide-ranging generals and their armies they controlled almost all of northern and central India as well.  The Company was growing alarmed at what it saw as the increasing belligerence of Mysore under Tipu Sultan and his pro-French policy and Malet was able to negotiate a treaty of alliance between the Company, the young Peshwa Madhavrao II (or rather his minister Nana Phadnavis) and the Nizam of Hyderabad, which since these two states were often antagonistic to each other was something of a diplomatic triumph.  When in 1789 Tipu Sultan attacked Travancore, a Company ally, the Governor-General Lord Cornwallis invoked his alliance with the Peshwa and the Nizam to attack Mysore and for a while to neutralise it.  In 1791 Malet received a baronetcy for his part in negotiating the treaty.

Malet lived in great style at his house near the junction of the Mula and Mutha rivers at Poona, maintaining gardens, orchards and a menagerie, as well as employing artists such as James Wales (1747-95) and Robert Mabon (d. 1798) (see M. Archer, India and British Portraiture 1770-1825, London, 1979, pp.333-55).  Malet returned to Britain in 1798 accompanied by Susanna Wales, the daughter of the recently deceased artist James Wales whom he had befriended, and married her the following year.

A Representation for the Delivery of the Ratified Treaty of 1790 by Sir Charles Warre Malet Bart to His Highness Soneae Madarou Peshwa.  Aquatint by Charles Turner after Thomas Daniell, 1807.  63 x 89,6 cm.  K.Top.CXV 59-1-c. 

Susanna Wales brought back to England all her father’s unfinished work.  This included his sketches for a large composition commemorating the 1790 treaty.  Malet asked Thomas Daniell to work the sketches up into a large oil painting (now in Tate Britain), and subsequently had Charles Turner engrave it in 1807.  The setting is the Durbar Hall of the Peshwa’s Shanwarwada palace in Poona.  Wales’s estate also included views of Bombay, which Malet arranged to have published in London in 1800, as well as his drawings of the Ellora caves, which he had Thomas Daniell engrave and publish as aquatints in 1803.  Malet’s collection of Wales’s drawings and sketches, along with his diaries, are now in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (see the exhibition publication by Holly Shaffer, Adapting the Eye: an Archive of the British in India, 1770-1830, 2011).

As is the case with most traditional Indian artists, we know nothing of Gangaram other than through his work and what Malet and Wales tell us.  Malet persuaded the Peshwa to establish a school for drawing in the palace at Poona and Gangaram seems to have been trained there in European techniques.  In addition to his animal drawings, he was employed by Malet to sketch Hindu architecture to illustrate Malet’s writings.  Malet published a paper on the Ellora cave temples in vol. 6 of Asiatick Researches (1801), illustrated with nine engravings after drawings by Gangaram.  In a foreword to this paper dated 1794, Malet notes that Gangaram had already been to Ellora to make drawings of the caves, when he himself had been prevented by illness from making the journey.

Ravana shaking Kailasa (Siva’s abode), at Ellora.  Engraving after Gangaram.  From Asiatick Researches, vol. 6, 1801, SV98, pl. E 

The Visvakarma cave at Ellora.  Engraving after Gangaram.  From Asiatick Researches, vol. 6, 1801, SV98, pl. I 

Malet noted in 1794 that Gangaram would be accompanying James Wales to Ellora to assist with his drawing of the temples.  Thomas Daniell engraved Wales’s drawings of Ellora as Hindoo Excavations in the Mountains of Ellora (London, 1803) and it is possible that one of the plates shows Gangaram himself actually at work, although Wales also had another Indian artist from Goa named Josi with him as well.

An Indian artist possibly Gangaram sketching details of Hindu sculpture.  Detail from 'The Ashes of Ravana, interior view.' Plate 19 from Hindoo excavations in the mountain of Ellora, London, 1803.  X432/6 pl. 19 detail 

To return to where I started with Gangaram’s animal drawings.  All these drawings are outlined in water-colour with a brush, the outlines brushed in with very transparent washes, the details worked up, and then the whole outlined again where necessary, normally on European paper watermarked with a lily.  The album and other items associated with Malet and Gangaram passed down through the Malet family and were sold at various times.  The portrait and the four animal drawings were acquired in 1982.

A light brown saluki.  By Gangaram, 1790.  Inscribed above: Chuba a Dog belonging to CWM.  Gangaram delint.  Water-colour on paper; 126 by 206 mm.  Add.Or.4146 

A black and white hound.  By Gangaram, 1790.  Inscribed above: Spring, and below: Gungaram.  Water-colour on paper; 134 by 182 mm.  Add.Or.4147 

   A lynx.  By Gangaram, 1790.  Inscribed above in pencil: Syah gush (Persian for lynx), and on the backing sheet: Lynx.  Water-colour on paper; 70 by 125 mm.  Add.Or.4149 

A lion.  By Gangaram, 1790.  Inscribed above: Lion.  Water-colour on paper; 161 by 243 mm.  Add.Or.4148 

Gangaram, living up to Malet’s description of him as a ‘very ingenious person’ also produced models of some of these animals, so when a group of these models appeared on the market including a camel, elephant and rhinoceros (Hobhouse Limited, Indian Painting during the British Period, London, 1986, no. 9), it proved irresistible to acquire one, although not until 1993, that was already represented by its drawing in the collection.

A model of a lion.   By Gangaram, 1790.  Wax, possibly dhuna, the aromatic gum of the shal tree (Shorea robusta), painted; size of wooden base: 20.5 x 9.75 x 2cm; animal 12.5cm at highest point of mane.  F872 

Gangaram’s lion.  F872, frontal view 

Gangaram has faithfully translated from paper to model the unhappy and mangy appearance of the poor lion including the halter round its neck.  Although Malet kept a menagerie, including the lion, some of the animals drawn by Gangaram belonged to the Peshwa, as Malet noted on a drawing of the Peshwa’s elephant named Ali Bakhsh (see Indian Drawings of Plants and Animals, Spring 1986, Hobhouse Ltd., no. 7).  Some of the models have labels written by Malet ascribing them to Gangaram. 

Finally the opportunity arose again in 1987 to acquire another drawing by Gangaram from the same album, this time of a camel.

A camel facing.  By Gangaram, 1790.  Inscribed in ink: The Figure of the Common Camel of Hindostan accurately taken from a Living One by Gungaram Chintamun Tombut of the follg. Dimensions [with detailed dimensions].  Poona 1790.  C.W. Malet.  And in nagari: gangaram cimtaman tabat.  Add.Or.4364 

This drawing contains very precise measurements of the animal that must have been used when Gangaram made his scale model in wax - see Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox catalogue Indian Paintings for British Patrons 1770-1860, London, 1991, no. 5.

J.P. Losty, Curator of Visual Arts (Emeritus)   

Following the Seven Years War or, in India, the Third Carnatic War (1757-63), the Nawabs of Arcot (styled Walajah)—former dependents of the Nizam al-Mulk of Hyderabad—were confirmed as independent rulers of the Carnatic region of India (covering Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana states) by the Mughal Emperor, Shah ‘Alam, in 1765. Fostering relations with European settlers establishing military outposts along the Coromandel Coast, at Pondicherry (Puducherry) and Madras (Chennai), for example, the nawabs became closely involved with the transactions and officials of the Honourable East India Company, the British parliament, and even members of the Hanoverian royal family. The character and extent of these relations is reflected in the record of correspondence, treaties, and legal documents of the time. The British Library has inherited from the India Office Library a small collection of such correspondence, consisting of 12 letters in Persian (the official and literary language of the Mughal state), from which a small selection is described here. These were described by M.Z.A. Shakeb in 1982 in a short catalogue which has long been unavailable. A PDF version can be downloaded here.

Aquatint based on a picture by Francis Swain Ward (1736-1794) of the mosque adjoining the palace of the Nawab of Arcot at Tiruchchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. Plate 1 from 24 Views in Indostan by William Orme, 1803 (British Library X768/2/1)

The letters written by or issued in the name of the nawabs are on thin oriental paper and are unified as a group by a number of common features: 1) the narrow, vertically elongated scroll format; 2) the placement of ruled panels of text in the lower left corner leaving broad margins along the upper and right edges; 3) floral motifs in gold; 4) 2 separate cartouches for a short invocation followed by the fuller quotation of the koranic basmalah (Qur’an, XXVII:30); and 5) fine flecks of gold (zar afshani) within cartouches and panels of text.

Letter written in 1801 from ʿAzim al-Dawlah, Nawab Walajah III, addressed to King George III (British Library IO Islamic 4359)

The first of these letters, IO Islamic 4359, is distinguished by broad margins covered in opaque gold wash surrounding the ruled panel of text. In keeping with conventions borrowed from imperial ordinances (farmans), this opulent effect is commensurate with the importance of the letter’s addressee, George III, described as

King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Christian faith, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover), Chancellor and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, Emperor of the Oceans, etc…

Written in an uneven Indian ta‘liq hand by the third nawab, ‘Azim al-Dawlah, the letter announces the death of the second nawab, ‘Umdat al-Umara, on 15 July 1801, and confirms his own accession with the aid of the East India Company.

Letter written in 1801 from ‘Azim al-Dawlah, Nawab Walajah III, addressed to the Prince of Wales (British Library IO Islamic 4361)

The designs of letters communicating with other members of the British royal family are less opulent, but no less attractive, with repeated floral motifs in diaper arrangement, loosely painted in gold. The contents of letter IO Islamic 4361 are similar in tenor. Written again by the same nawab, this time in a more legible hand, it additionally requests the intercession of the Prince of Wales (George Augustus Frederick, later Prince-Regent, later King George IV) with his father, the king.

Letter written in 1816 from ‘Azim al-Dawlah, Nawab Walajah III, addressed to the Directors of the East India Company congratulating them on the marriage of Princess Charlotte to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (British Library IO Islamic 4252)

Following a similar design scheme, the letter IO Islamic 4252 addresses this time officials of the East India Company. Commencing with a reference to the Battle of Waterloo (1815), the letter congratulates British forces on their ‘great victory’ in Europe (referred to here as vilayat) before going on to express pleasure at news of the marriage of the Prince-Regent’s daughter, Charlotte Augusta, Princess of Wales, to Prince Leopold Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duke of Saxony (later Léopold I, King of the Belgians), in 1816. The primary object of this letter is set out in the final few lines: to remind the Prince-Regent of his neglect in replying to earlier petitions, whereas the king did favour the nawab with a reply.

While other letters were written in the nawab’s own hand, this letter is written in a neat nasta‘liq hand by a practiced scribe. That its transcription was supervised by the nawab himself is indicated by the addition at the end of the text (bottom left corner) of the bold and stylised word, bayaz (fair copy), thus validating the letter’s authenticity.

Letter dated 14 Rabiʻ II 1216 (24 August 1801) from Nawab Walajah III’s uncle to the Chairman, Court of Directors, East India Company (British Library IO Islamic 4251)

Envelope with the seal of Anvar al-Dawlah Husam Jang Sayf al-Mulk Muhammad Anvar Khan Bahadur (British Library IO Islamic 4251)

Perhaps one of the least typical of this assemblage is the design and character of the letter IO Islamic 4251. Although lacking any ornamentation, defined panels and cartouches of text within rulings, and the narrow, elongated format seen in the previous 3 examples, it consists of 2 thin sheets of silver and gold-flecked paper (sim va zar afshan) covered on both sides in a densely-written nasta‘liq hand.

Written and composed by Muhammad Anvar Khan, brother of the second nawab, the first part of the letter sets out arguments disputing the East India Company’s decision to invest ‘Azim al-Dawlah as the third Nawab of Arcot. Although polite and coached in diplomatic prose, the letter is surprisingly direct in its expression of the extended nawabi family’s strong displeasure, specifying objections on grounds of illegitimacy, inheritance and succession rights under the shari‘ah, the author’s superior claims to the seat (masnad), and possible benefits to the Company if he were to succeed.

The second part of the letter discusses in greater detail the dynasty’s status as the confirmed rulers of the Carnatic region, the genealogy of the main claimants, the author’s claim, and the way in which the East India Company managed the succession. Taken as a whole, the letter vividly illustrates inherent tensions between the nawabs and the East India Company, which eventually took over the administration of the nawab’s domains following the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798-99).

Saqib Baburi, Asian and African Studies

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This beautiful manuscript of Serat Jayalengkara Wulang (MSS Jav 24), written in Javanese language and script, has just been digitised and can be read in full here.  It relates the story of the wanderings of Prince Jayalengkara, and his visits to sages in secluded places who instruct him in mystical science. The copying of this manuscript was begun on 22 Rejeb in the Javanese year 1730, equivalent to 7 November 1803, by a servant of Sultan Hamengkubuwana II of Yogyakarta (who ruled, with interruptions, from 1792 to 1828).  The manuscript is written in the quadratic style of script characteristic of Yogyakarta court circles, and contains numerous finely illuminated frames and illustrations.

The text on the opening pages of this manuscript of Serat Jayalengkara Wulang contains an apology for the presumption of the author in attempting to contribute to literature, for the untidyness of the script, and for the awkward versification. British Library, MSS Jav 24, ff.2v-3r.

The art of manuscript illumination in Java reached its peak in the courts of Yogyakarta. It is not uncommon in paper manuscripts from other parts of Java to find more or less elaborate decorative frames on the first pages. But in Yogyakarta, and only very rarely in other areas, they can be found at selected places in the body of the text as well, marking major junctures in the narrative as a kind of chapter heading. These elaborate frames were known as wadana, a Javanese word literally meaning ‘face’. Like illuminated frames in other Islamic manuscript cultures, wadana often comprise symmetrical decorated frames across two facing pages and may consist primarily of geometric and foliate patterns.  But in this manuscript there are also wadana which occupy one page only, and which draw deeply on the Javanese iconographic repertoire, incorporating mythical creatures such as the naga, dragon, or makara, an acquatic animal with an elephant’s trunk.

Serat Jayalengkara Wulang. British Library, MSS Jav 24, ff.30v-31r.

Depiction of a battle scene, with the two opposing armies with their pennants, gun carriages and lances. British Library, MSS Jav 24, f.144v (detail).

Although the text in the manuscript is complete, the illumination is not, and comparison of the finished and unfinished wadana provides a valuable glimpse into the techniques used by the illuminator. First, guidelines were prepared for the text, using a sharp implement and a ruler. The text was written between the ruled indentations, and then the process of decoration began. The straight lines of the frame were drawn in pencil with a ruler, while foliate patterns and other decorative elements were outlined directly in yellow pigment. Glue was then applied on the yellow outlines, probably with a fine brush, and thin gold leaf was then stuck on. The borders of the gilt were then outlined in black ink. Patterns could also be drawn on top of some of the patches of gold; a circle, for example, could be transformed into a rosette. Other elements of the pattern were also outlined in black ink.  Finally, the remaining parts were filled in with coloured pigments in blue, red, green and yellow, with the uncoloured background of white paper being left to function as ‘reserved white’ in some places.

Unfinished single-page wadana, with two entwined makara enclosing the text block. British Library, MSS Jav 24, f.182v. 

The final pair of decorated frames (wadana), which mirror the shape of the opening frames, are unfinished, with pencilled outlines and gold leaf on the left-hand page, and the additional use of black ink on the right-hand page to define the gold borders. British Library, MSS Jav 24, ff.203v-204r.

In this set of unfinished double decorated frames, the glue applied on top of the yellow pigment to attach the gold leaf appears to have corroded the paper, leaving brown burn marks. British Library, MSS Jav 24, ff.171v-172r.

Further reading
A.T. Gallop & B. Arps, Golden Letters: Writing Traditions of Indonesia / Surat Emas: Budaya Tulis di Indonesia. London: British Library; Jakarta: Lontar; 1991.
T.E. Behrend, ‘Textual gateways: the Javanese manuscript tradition’.  Illuminations: writing traditions of Indonesia, ed. Ann Kumar & John H. McGlynn; pp.161-200.  Jakarta: Lontar Foundation, 1996.

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

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Even if the attendant or station inspector had shouted ‘Mind the Gap’ (the phrase first used in 1969 at rail stations in the United Kingdom), it would not have prevented the horrific accident that befell Sir Donald Friell McLeod at the railway station at Gloucester Road in 1872. Arriving at the Metropolitan Line platform on 28 November, the station inspector told McLeod that he was too late to catch the train heading towards South Kensington; moments later, he shouted ‘stop, you will be run over’ (London Standard, 3 December 1872).

In investigating the accident, the Belfast News wrote on 4 December, ‘It seems that he must have attempted to enter his compartment while the carriages were already in motion, and that, falling with the sudden and violent movement of the train, he was dragged along for several yards. The right arm, which probably to the last had retained its hold upon the platform and footboards, was uninjured. But the left arm and both legs were nearly severed from the body, although the train was stopped with praiseworthy promptitude.’ Sir Donald McLeod, formerly the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab (1865-70), died at St George’s Hospital later that day.

As an important figure in Anglo-Indian history, McLeod spent the majority of his life in the subcontinent. Born in Calcutta in 1810, he was the younger son of Lieutenant-General Duncan McLeod (d.1856) of the Bengal Engineers. When he was only 4 years old, McLeod was sent to the Scottish Highlands and raised by his grandfather. Educated in Edinburgh and London, he went on to attend the prestigious East India College at Haileybury before returning to Calcutta in 1828. McLeod entered into service for the East India Company and served as the Judicial Commissioner of the British Punjab in 1854 and ultimately as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab between 1865-70. A devout Christian, McLeod committed his life to various philanthropic projects including helping to establish the University of Punjab (Lahore), also known as the Lahore Oriental University.

Lt. Governor [Sir Donald McLeod] and others, Murree, 1865. British Library, Photo 211/1(61). In the front row: Mr. Robert, Reverend Dr. George Edward Lynch Cotton, Sir Donald McLeod, Captain Alexander Taylor, and Major-General Edward John Lake.

Whilst living in the Punjab, the stories of McLeod’s philanthropy and devoutness captivated the locals. According to the entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ‘cheap coloured lithographs circulated in Lahore showing him seated as a holy man being venerated by Sikh ascetics’. Although I could not locate a lithograph of the subject, I was surprised to locate a painting of the exact subject in the Wellcome Collection (London). In the scene below, the artist depicted Sir Donald McLeod seated on a cushion with his legs crossed and with his head encircled in a nimbus and accompanied by putti; these attributes, along with the attendant holding a flywhisk, which is of course an insigna of royalty, are suggestive that the artist or patron revered McLeod as royalty.

Sir Donald Friell McLeod surrounded by admiring Sikh elders, c. 1870. Wellcome Library, London.

Local artists continued to be fascinated with McLeod, even after his return to England. A fascinating yet somewhat peculiar painting substantiates this claim. A painting in the British Library, by a Sikh artist, depicts the artist’s interpretation of the horrific accident at Gloucester Road station. While incident reports as well as obituaries in UK newspapers provided detailed accounts on McLeod’s death, the story must have been printed in either local English or Punjabi newspapers in Lahore.

The accident that befell Sir Donald Friell McLeod at Gloucester Road underground station, 1872, and its aftermath. By a Punjab artist, c.1885. Water-colour heightened with bodycolour and gold, on paper laid on card; 342 by 482 mm. British Library, Add.Or.5266.

In the painting (above), we see the artist’s personal interpretation and understanding of the details of the accident. In the lower left corner, four members of the British public have come to McLeod’s aide and assist to remove him from the railway track. In nearby train carriages, curiously both British and Punjabi-Sikh figures observe the accident. The story continues to unfold with McLeod being transferred to the tent (middle-right) where British political aides tend to the injured. Based on the photograph of McLeod taken at Murree (at top), I wonder if the three men closest to McLeod are the Judicial Commissioner Mr. Roberts, Captain Alexander Taylor (holding McLeod) and the Right Reverend Dr. George Edward Lynch Cotton (d.1866)? From this point, the viewer’s focus is directed to the upper left corner of the painting where Sikh ascetics and members of the prestigious Akali Sikh military order bid farewell to McLeod who is carried away by angels on a palanquin.

Detail of the painting

As McLeod passed away within hours after the accident and was  buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London, it is rather strange and curious that the artist transported the incident to the Punjab, where both Punjabi-Sikhs and British officers witnessed the event and were with him during his final moments. However, as the local community revered Sir Donald Friell McLeod, the painting is  appropriate to commemorate McLeod.

Further reading:

Katherine Prior, ‘McLeod, Sir Donald Friell (1810–1872)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17669, accessed 12 Aug 2014]

Susan Stronge (ed), The Arts of the Sikh Kingdoms, Victoria and Albert Museum Publications, 1999.

Malini Roy, Visual Arts Curator