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Title:
Volume 29 - Issue 4
Date:
1976
Table of contents:
- p. 2-18, 67-68: Irwin, John, Indian Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum | The collection of Indian art in the Victoria and Albert Museum is divided into 5 phases which coincided with changes in administrative policy. During each phase a specific collection was built up: relics of military campaigns (1791-1858); handicrafts (1858-79); Mughal court art (1879-1911); Hindu, Buddhist, and Jaina art (1911-39); Pahari painting, Indo-European cotton-painting, and Mughal jades (1945-75).
- p. 19-30: Irwin, John, The Human Form in Indian Sculpture | There were three stages in the development of Indian figure sculpture: Buddhist sculpture (2nd-1st century BCE); creation of Indian iconography (2nd-6th century CE); and medieval India (7th-14th century). The illustrations are of objects exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
- p. 31-32: Marg, The Treatment of Space in Indian Painting | Expressionism in colour was long part of the Indian tradition. After the arrival of Islam, there was a synthesis of Persian and Indian colours. Indian painting was two-dimensional in its occupation of space, but some Mughal painters began to incorporate the three-dimensional perspective of the West.
- p. 33-36: Marg, Paintings of the Hamza Namah | The Hamza Namah or Dastan-i-Amir Hamza is a pictorial document describing the adventures of Amir Hamza, an uncle of Prophet Muhammad. The illustrations to the manuscript under study were executed in Akbar's atelier, and show a synthesis of different styles. Most of the existing folios are in the Industrial Museum, Vienna, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; a few others are scattered in collections all over the world.
- p. 37-46: Marg, Paintings of the Akbar Namah | A fragment of Abul Fazl's Akbar Namah is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It has 117 full-page miniatures, illustrating the events of Akbar's early reign (1560-77).
- p. 47-55: [Mughal Paintings] | A portfolio of Mughal Paintings from Jahangir's and Shah Jahan's period, Pahari, Rajasthani, and Sikh paintings.
- p. 56-63: Irwin, John, Indian Textiles in Historical Perspective | Indian textiles have enjoyed supremacy for a long time, mainly because of abundant and cheap raw materials, and the caste-based division of labour which enabled the carrying out of extremely complicated and laborious techniques. The article discusses the different types of Indian fabrics and embroideries.
- p. 64-66: Irwin, John, Fremlin Carpet | The "Fremlin Carpet", bought at a Paris auction in 1935 by the Victoria and Albert Museum, was commissioned by William Fremlin, who served the East India Company in India between 1626 and 1644. The motifs and basic character of the design are Persian, but the carpet was woven in India.
- p. 69-70: Doshi, Saryu, Shah Jehan's Jade Cup | During Shah Jahan's reign, the decorative arts were brought to the highest level of excellence due to his patronage of the royal workshops. A milky-white, split-gourd shaped jade cup that delighted the emperor is unrivalled among Indian jades.