India, first half of the 19th century.
4to album [277 x 180 mm] composed of (2) bl. ll. and of 60 watercolors. Small tear without gravity to the 36th plate. Bound in full brown morocco, blindly stamped frame and decoration composed of vegetal patterns in an Oriental style on the covers. Spine previously remade. Contemporary binding.
Precious watercolor album made in the 19th century by a British Lieutenant in post in India and mainly representing the whole crafts such as they were practiced in India at the beginning of the 19th century.
The album consists of 60 superb watercolors of great delicacy of execution among which 10 of them represent Sikh sovereigns with shimmering costumes elegantly hanging, 40 of them represent the crafts such as they were practiced in the 19th century in India and 10 of them views of monuments like the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the tomb of Ranjît Singh, the Golden Mosque of Lahore in Pakistan, the Taj Mahal in Āgrā…
The suite of watercolors dedicated to crafts present: a shoemaker, a blacksmith, a potter, a weaver, a cabinetmaker, a snake trainer, a hunter, a dyer, musicians, a barber, a butcher, etc. Each craftsman is presented working, surrounded by his tools and his ongoing creations. Each scene offers a detailed and realistic vision of the craftsman workshop represented with the various tools and instruments which are necessary to him in his work hung on the wall, placed on a table or even on the ground.
The watercolors are in a particularly bright and shimmering coloring subtly enhanced with gilt. They are bordered by a painted frame. The names of the represented characters, monuments and professions are written in Persian in black ink under the frames.
The present album is a rare account of the craft activity in India at the beginning of the 19th century.
Unique collection composed of 60 painted watercolors at the beginning of the 19th century, dedicated to sovereigns of the Sikh empire and to Indian traditional crafts of this period, of a great artistic value and of the highest interest for the history of the crafts.
Provenance: handwritten ex libris “L.S. Parry. Found by Lieutenant C.J. Tyler, R.A., in the Bagh Palace at Lucknow after the seige. 1856” on the endpaper.
See less information
