Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c16.s1.t5: Salarjung Museum
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c16.s1.t5
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Salarjung Museum
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Salarjung Museum is an art museum located at Darushifa, on the bank of the Musi river in the city of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was founded on December 16, 1951, and is one of the three national museums in India. Its collections include more than 1 million objects, and cover a span of more than 2,000 years, and most of them are of the period after 1ˢᵗ century. In addition to Indian ones, it is also known for its collections from China, Japan, Burma, Nepal, Iran, Egypt, Europe and America. It once was the world’s large private collection, and derives its name from the Salar Jung family, which had five of its members serving as Prime Ministers to the Nizam of Hyderabad. Nawab Mir Yusuf Ali
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*The exterior of the Salarjung Museum in Hyderabad, India*
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Khan, i.e. Salar Jung III (1889-1949), served as the Prime Minister of Hyderabad for a short time. His private collections form the basis of the Museum. He remained as a bachelor, and within 35 years, spent a lot in acquiring works of art. It is believed, present collection only constitute half of the original store, and the other half was either stolen by his employee or lost during the shifting to the present site.
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In early 1968, its collections were moved to the present site, and provided with descriptions in English, Urdu, Hindi and Telugu. It is a semicircular four-storey building, with 38 galleries on the first and second floor. On the first floor, Gallery 3 is for Indian textile and bronze, with treasures such as bronze statue of Vishnu, the founder of Jainism Mahavira, nine-head cobra, Shiva as Nataraja and Vinayaka in the late Pallava Dynasty and Cola Dynasty in 9ᵗʰ century CE; Chamber A of Gallery 3 is for Indian sculpture, including a column with a decree of Asoka inscribed on it, and stone sculpture in the Sunga and Gupta Dynasty. Gallery 4 is for minor Indian art, mainly including temples’ artefacts carved from sandalwood, yellow sandal and other wood of fine quality. Gallery 6 is for printed, dyed articles and glassware. Gallery 9 and 10 are for kid toys; Gallery 12 is for animal specimens. Gallery 14 is for ivory sculpture. Gallery 16 is for arms, including a great variety and quantity of ancient weapons. Gallery 15 is for metal utensils. Chamber A of Gallery 17 is for modern Indian paintings, including those by important Indian painters in the 19^th and 20^th century CE, such as Ravi Varma, Abanindranath Tagore and Sunil Prakash. Gallery 18 is for Indian miniatures, including Mughal and Rajasthan miniatures and palm-leaf manuscript of Jainism. On the second floor, Gallery 20 is for European art. Gallery 25 is for jade, including fascinating Indian and Chinese Jade. Gallery 26 is for European Bronze. Gallery 28 is for clocks. Gallery 29 is for manuscripts, with more than 7,500 manuscripts in ancient Persian, Arabic and Urdu, including a manuscript of *Koran* from the 9^th century and a manuscript of *Koran* from the 13^th century signed by Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. Gallery 31 is for Far East porcelain, with Chinese celadon shipped to Europe in the 13^th century. Gallery 32 is for Kashmir. Gallery 33 is for Far East Sculpture, with the birth of Buddha and other Buddhist sculptures.
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In addition to a great amount of chinaware, jade and silk fabrics from China, Salarjung Museum also has a collection of Chinese furniture. There is an exquisite polished cabinet, which is a present from a Chinese merchant in the Qing Dynasty to his Indian friend. Such treasures are important objects for the study of ancient Chinese arts and China-India traffic.
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As arranged by Archaeological Survey of India and State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China, an ancient China treasure exhibition was successfully held at Salarjung Museum in the summer of 2011.
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(*Liu Jian*)