Archaeological Survey of India Collections: Indian Museum Series. Photographer(s):...

Part of the Archaeological Survey of India Collections, bound into 46 volumes (Photo 1002/1-46) and containing a total of approximately 2651 prints, as follows:. Photo 1002/1(1-50), Bengal. 63 albumen prints, but numbered 1-50 (some prints with additional alphabetical suffix), photographed by Daviditch Melik Beglar, Henry Baily Wade Garrick, Alexander Edwin Caddy and William Henry Cornish. Locations include: Bahulara, Jangira, Barabar Caves, Barakar, Kalyanesvari, Lauriya Araraj, Lauriya Nandangarh, Ramgarh, Jajpur, Bodh Gaya. Photo 1002/2(51-104), Bengal. 54 albumen prints, photographed by Joseph Daviditch Melik Beglar and Henry Baily Wade Garrick. Locations include Bodh Gaya, Ghenjan, Kauwa Dol Hill, Konch, Mandaur, Damdama, Tribeni, Gaur. Prints 1418-1475. Views of Gwalior, c.1880-83. These prints are credited to Major H. H. Cole in Bloch's list, although he probably commissioned or collected rather than took them. Six of the prints in the series (1422, 1428, 1433, 1444, 1449, 1470) can be positively attributed to the studio of Shepherd and Robertson, since they are reproduced in photogravure in Henry Hardy Cole, Preservation of Ancient Monuments in India (Calcutta: c.1884-85), vol. II, part 6, Agra and Gwalior, and are there credited to the firm. From the style of a good many of the other prints in the series and the fact that they show similar subjects to those reproduced in the above work, it appears most likely that these are also the work of Bourne and Shepherd, and it seems most probable that these photographers were commissioned by Cole to make a record of the restoration work which had been completed at Gwalior between about 1880 and 1883. Several of these views also employ a long narrow print format which had been characteristic of many of Samuel Bourne's photographs during his period in India,and which continued to be used by his successors in the firm. The remaining prints (1419, 1431, 1435, 1442, 1445, 1448, 1450, 1454, 1456, 1458, 1460, 1462, 1474, 1475) are views taken before restoration work had been undertaken (c. 1880? Or earlier?), and appear to be the work of a competent amateur (the vignetting apparent at the edges of many of the images, a result of using a lens insufficient to cover the negative area, is a defect that a professional would have avoided). It is possible that these photographs were taken some years earlier, and may be the work of Lieutenant-Colonel George Edward Herne of the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Bombay Royal Fusiliers), who in 1868 was selected to take photographs of Gwalior in response to the Government circular of 1867, and who was granted an allowance of Rs. 5 per diem while this work was in progress [see Colonel H. D. Daly, Officiating Political Officer, Gwalior, to Lieutenant-Colonel R.J. Meade, Agent to Governor-General for Central India, dated 28 November 1868, India Public Proceedings, Home Department, 30 January 1869, IOR/P/434/15 p.425]. It appears that these photographs were to hand when Bourne and Shepherd took their views, since there has clearly been an attempt to show several of the buildings from the same viewpoint before and after repairs had been effected. For an account of the conservation work at Gwalior during this period, see Major J. B. Keith, Preservation of National Monuments: Fortress Gwalior (Calcutta: 1883), H. H. Cole, First report of the Curator of Ancient Monuments in India for the year 1881-82 (Simla: 1882) and Second report...for 1882-83 (Calcutta: 1883). Prints 1476-1505. The Stupa of Bharhut, March-April 1874. Photographed by J. D. Beglar. Several of these images are reproduced in Alexander Cunningham, The Stupa of Bharhut (London: 1879), in the introduction to which he records that following his own discovery of the remains in November 1873 and a further visit in February 1874, 'In the beginning of March the work of excavation was taken up by my zealous assistant Mr J. D. Beglar, who continued the excavation round the whole circle of the railing. To him we owe the discovery of the valuable Prasenajit Pillar, of the famous Jetavana scene, and of many of the most interesting coping stones. He made photographs of the sculptures as they were found; but as each day's discoveries only showed how much was still left to be explored, the work was closed in the beginning of April.' (p. v). Prints 1527-1599. Views of Rajasthan, 1870s-80s. Photographs credited to Baudesson (see next batch), J. D. Beglar, Major Cole. Views of Ajmer, Alwar, Tijara, Bayana, Baroli, Thalwa, Dholpur, Amber, Tahangarh, Mokundara and Bijolia. Most of the material credited (probably incorrectly) to Cole is of very indifferent quality. Prints 1600-1685. Views of Rajasthan, 1882. Photographed by O. S. Baudesson. This series comprises views from Chittaurgarh, Eklingji, Mynal, Nagda, Udaipur and Abu. All are credited in Bloch's list to Baudesson, a commercial photographer based in Ajmer in the 1880s, except for prints 1640-1644 (J. D. Beglar). A number of these prints are reproduced in photogravure in H. H. Cole, Preservation of Ancient Monuments in India (Calcutta: c.1884-85), vol. II, part 8, Meywar (1884). All these views appear to have been taken in the course of a single commission and the majority are signed in the negative O. S. Baudesson 1882. Prints 1527-1529, 1533-34, 1537-40, 1544-1552 in the previous batch are also credited to Baudesson. Prints 1766-1880. Views at Bijapur, 1880s-90s. Photographs by Henry Cousens. The majority of these views, together with architectural plans and elevations and detailed descriptions, are reproduced in Henry Cousens, Bijapur and its architectural remains (Archaeological Survey of India, Imperial Series, vol. XXXVII, Bombay, 1916). Prints 1893-2033. Views in Dharwad (Dharwar) and Karwar (North Kanara), 1880s-90s. Photographs by Henry Cousens. Views of Chalukyan temple architecture in Karnataka. Many of these photographs, together with architectural plans and elevations and detailed descriptions, are reproduced in Henry Cousens, The Chalukyan architecture of the Kanarese Districts (Archaeological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, vol. XLII, Calcutta, 1926). Prints 2034-2102. Views of the Jain temples at Satrunjaya, c. 1890. Photographed by Henry Cousens. Assuming that all the photographs in this series were taken during the course of the same visit, an approximate date is supplied by print 2097, which shows the installation of an image in the new temple at the south-west corner of the Vallabhai Tuk: according to the 1897 edition of Burgess and Cousens' Revised lists of antiquarian remains in the Bombay Presidency, this temple had been 'set up' seven years previously. Prints 2034-2037 are views at Junagadh and Girnar, but have been included in this series since, given their reasonable geographical proximity to Satrunjaya, it is likely that they form part of the same sequence. Prints 2293-2329. Views of the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple, Madurai, c. 1884-1890. Photographed by Alexander Rea and Nicholas and Co. of Madras. A series of general architectural views, followed by a series of close-ups of sculpture in the Pudu Mandapa. The prints credited to H. H. Cole in this sequence are more likely the work of Nicholas and Co. Some certainly are: prints *** appear in Cole's Preservation of Ancient Monuments in India (Calcutta: c. 1884), part 10, Great Temple to Siva and his consort at Madura, and are there credited to the firm. The captions given in Bloch's list relating to these general views are in many cases inaccurate: several of these prints appear to have been listed as if the general orientation of the temple complex were north-south rather than east-west. Prints 2384-2424. Views at Kumbakonam, 1892. Photographed by Alexander Rea. A series of views of the temples and of the vahanas (vehicles for carrying images at festival time) kept at the Kumbheshvara Temple. This series is duplicated in ASS (163-202). The photographs were taken as part of the Archaeological Survey's work for the 1892-93 season: 'During the first quarter of the field season a survey was made of the principal temples at Kumbakonam. There are seventeen chief temples with others smaller and of lesser note in the town. Those at which work was done are the large temples of Kumbesvara, Sarangapani, Ramasvami, Nagesvara, Vanapuresvara, Kasivisvanadha and Somesvara. The work consists of survey drawings, a fine set of photographs, and papier maché moulds for plaster casts of ornament...In the Kumbesvara temple are a number of vahanas, or vehicles for the gods, overlaid with ornamented plates of beaten gold and silver. As examples of the work of the silversmith, they, and some of the other jewels and puja utensils from the same temple, would be specially serviceable for illustration in the Journal of Indian Art.' (Alexander Rea to Chief Secretary to Government, Madras, 27 June 1893, Madras Public Proceedings, July 1893). Prints 2463-2469. Views of the Great Temple at Shrirangam, c. 1884. Photographed by Nicholas and Co. of Madras. Although credited to H. H. Cole in Bloch's list, these are all almost certainly part of the series of views taken for Cole by Nicholas and Co. Print 2468 is reproduced in photogravure in Cole's Preservation of Ancient Monuments in India (Calcutta: c. 1884), part 9, Temples at Trichinopoly, pl. ix, and is there credited to Nicholas and Co. Prints 2482-2593. Burmese temples and inscriptions, 1880s. The majority of these views, were taken by Dr Emmanuel Forchhammer in the course of archaeological research in about 1885. Their general quality is very indifferent and many of the negatives have, in addition, suffered from damp, so that the resulting prints are further devalued as archaeological records. Interspersed with this material is a series (prints 2558-2574 and 2590-2593) of professional quality views of architectural subjects by an unknown photographer, probably taken in the 1880s. This better-quality material is mainly of Mandalay.

See Photo 1003, for an almost complete duplicate set of the Indian Museum series

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