Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection

(from 1st Oct 2013 until 5th Jan 2014)

Explore the recent acquisition of a rich and unusual collection of Indian paintings and manuscript pages.

Detail of Noblemen in durbar, Rajasthan, 18th century (Museum no: EA2012.225)
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Dancing girl on a terrace

  • Description

    In contrast to other works in this exhibition, this painting belongs to the 19th-century Company period, when artists trained in the Mughal tradition now sought patronage with the new British rulers, modifying their art to accord with European tastes. In this sensitive portrait, a Bengal dancing girl stands on a durree spread on the balustraded terrace of a British mansion in Calcutta. She raises her hennaed hand as if in a dance gesture. Nautches or dance performances in the Mughal kathak style had become a popular spectacle among British officials in India by the late 18th century. An English inscription ascribes this work to the well-known artist Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Kurraya (a suburb of Calcutta).

  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaIndiaeast IndiaWest Bengal Kolkata (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1845
    Artist/maker
    Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Kurraya (active c. 1825 - 1850) (artist)
    Material and technique
    watercolour and gouache on paper
    Dimensions
    27.7 x 19.5 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by the Simon Digby Memorial Charity, 2012.
    Accession no.
    EA2012.220

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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