A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c21: Appendix. Collections of Indo-Persian Drawings and Paintings

A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c21

Language: English

Appendix. Collections of Indo-Persian Drawings and Paintings

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In London the public collections are in (1) British Museum, (2) India Office, (3) Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington.

The most notable volumes are:—Sixteenth century—Or. 3714 (*Wāqiāt-i-Bābarī*); Or. 4615 (*Dārābnāmah*); Or. 3600 (*Story of Amīr Hamzah*). Seventeenth century—Add. 18801; Add. 20734; Add. 18579. Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—Add. 22470; Add. 21928. The volumes specially devoted to Hindu mythology are noted in Chapter IX. There are a few illustrated MSS. shown in table cases in the King's Library.

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2. *India Office.*

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A. Album of Dārā Shukoh (*ante*, p. 457); 78 numbered folios, besides decorated fly-leaves; 30 signed specimens of calligraphy, the earliest being (fol. 62 rev.) of A. H. 904 = A. D. 1498–9, at Herāt.

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B. Johnson Collection.

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Formed by Richard Johnson (*ante*, p. 332; Lawson, *Private Life of Warren Hastings*, p. 140; *As. Res.*, iii, 74), and purchased after his death. Sixty-seven volumes, or portfolios, badly bound, and ill-arranged, with contents varying much in age and quality. Vols. xxx–xxxiv (incl.) and lxi are *Rāgmālās* (*ante*, p. 330). Vol. lxiii is a collection of poor sketches of life from S. India. Vol. lxvi contains specimens of calligraphy only.¹

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¹ The Librarian intends to have the collection properly arranged.

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C. In the Secretary of State's room there are portraits of Jahāngīr and Shahjahān, supposed to be contemporary; a set of miniatures of the twelve Pādshāhs of Delhi, &c.; and two sets of nineteenth-century miniatures of Panjāb celebrities, Ranjīt Singh, &c. (Foster, *Catalogue of Paintings, &c., in I.O.*, Nos. 65, 66, 69–71).

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3. *Victoria and Albert Museum, S. Kensington.*

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A. Indian Section:—

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(1) Clarke MS. of *Akbarnāmah*:—117 signed paintings, separately framed, and hung badly about the walls of the Entrance Hall and staircase, with no proper labels (*ante*, p. 456). Mr. Beveridge has prepared a rough type-written list, which is in the office.

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(2) Twenty early Perso-Mongol paintings on cotton; four hung in Entrance Hall, and sixteen in Room VI; not properly labelled (*ante*, p. 454).

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B. Department of Engraving, Illustration, and Design.

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Large green album, D. 1163–1210; bought from Dutch dealer in 1903; contains some good eighteenth-century work (*ante*, p. 492).

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PRIVATE COLLECTIONS IN ENGLAND.

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Many exist, but I have examined only a few, because the material available is too extensive to be dealt with exhaustively.

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1. Collection of C. Hercules Read, Esq., at his private residence. Important and full of good things, both Persian and Indian; but I did not take many notes, as the public collections sufficed for my purpose.

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2. Collection of Col. Hanna, at his private residence, Petersfield; comprising ‘Asiatic Drawings’, two vols. atlas quarto, and ‘Persian Drawings’, one vol. large atlas size (see *ante*, p. 490).

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Col. Hanna’s principal collection, now at Washington, U.S.A., is described in his printed *Catalogue*, dated 1890, of which he gave me a copy, and briefly in my article in *Ind. Ant.*, 1910, pp. 182–4.

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3. Collection of Mrs. Jopling Rowe, at her private residence. It is small, and though interesting, contains no novelties or visibly signed pictures.

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4. Collection of Col. Hendley, C.I.E., at his private residence. Excellent copies.

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ON THE CONTINENT.

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The huge collection in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, is known to me only from the careful catalogue by M. Blochet, ‘Inventaire et Description des Miniatures des Manuscrits Orientaux conservés à la Bibliothèque Nationale’ (*Revue des Bibliothèques*, Paris, 1898–1900), and from a few reproductions, as in Mr. Irvine’s translation of Manucci.

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Numerous valuable private collections exist in France.

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Indo-Persian pictures are also in the public libraries of St. Petersburg and Berlin, which I have not attempted to study, the material at hand being superabundant.

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IN INDIA.

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Probably the best collection of separate pictures is that started by Mr. Havell at School of Art, Calcutta. There are also considerable collections of pictures or illuminated MSS. at the Central Museum, Lahore; the Museum, Delhi; the Victoria Memorial, Calcutta; the Khudā Baksh Library, Patna; and other places, for some of which catalogues have been printed. The collections in private hands are numerous and rich. It is impossible to go into details.