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Lot 3120
AN ALBUM OF ILLUSTRATED HINDU DEITIES TANJORE, DATED 1837
19 March 2018, 15:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$77,500 inc. premium
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AN ALBUM OF ILLUSTRATED HINDU DEITIES
TANJORE, DATED 1837
Watercolor and ink on paper; with 223 folios containing 108 illustrations accompanied by bilingual captions in English and Tamil; the interior beginning with the manuscript's handwritten cover in ink entitled, One hundred Plates of Specimens of the Three hundred and thirty Millions of Hindoo gods. "Abominable Idolatries." "Earthly, sensual, devilish." Tamul followed two lines of Tamil script presumably with a version of the manuscript's title; cover page followed by the presentation letter to Hon. Steven Van Rensselaer, L.L.D with Daniel Poor's signature; the manuscript bound in a later leather jacket and gold embossed title, 'Original Drawings of the Hindu Gods'.
Folio: 9 5/8 x 7 5/8 in. (24.5 x 19.9 cm)
Watercolor and ink on paper; with 223 folios containing 108 illustrations accompanied by bilingual captions in English and Tamil; the interior beginning with the manuscript's handwritten cover in ink entitled, One hundred Plates of Specimens of the Three hundred and thirty Millions of Hindoo gods. "Abominable Idolatries." "Earthly, sensual, devilish." Tamul followed two lines of Tamil script presumably with a version of the manuscript's title; cover page followed by the presentation letter to Hon. Steven Van Rensselaer, L.L.D with Daniel Poor's signature; the manuscript bound in a later leather jacket and gold embossed title, 'Original Drawings of the Hindu Gods'.
Folio: 9 5/8 x 7 5/8 in. (24.5 x 19.9 cm)
Footnotes
The presentation letter after the manuscript's cover page reads:
Presented to the Hon. Steven Van Rensselaer, L.L.D. as a token of obligation by his unknown and far distant friend Daniel Poor [signed], Madura, Southern India, 2nd February 1837...[The the note goes on to quote biblical scripture]...This is written by I. Vardapillary, writing master in the two English schools established by the American Missionaries in Madura City.
Steven van Rensselaer was the last of a line of aristocrats who had been given vast land grants in the New World under Dutch colonial rule. At one point he controlled over a million acres in New York State and had up to 100,000 tenants living on his land. When he received this book, he was the richest man in America. Daniel Poor was a missionary based in Jaffna, Sri Lanka until he was transferred at the end of his career to Madurai in 1836, where he founded thirty-seven schools. Van Rensselaer was a champion of education and a long active member of the Dutch Reformed Church, and Poor's missionary work in Sri Lanka and South India were no doubt supported in some fashion by the philanthropist, giving rise, we might surmise, to this token of appreciation.
Immediately following the conclusion of the Mysore wars at the close of the 18th century the demand for paintings of local customs burgeoned to provide souvenirs for British troops. Beyond the pairing of men and women from different castes, South Indian artists produced albums documenting festivals, temples, shops, and local representations of gods as seen in the present lot. Compare with a set dated c.1828, held in the India Office Library, in Archer, Company Drawings, London, 1972, pl.6 and discussed p.22.
Provenance
Hon. Steven Van Rensselaer, L.L.D, by 1837
Collection of Edwin Marks, New York, by 1974
Thence by descent