Stone archway in seven pieces, Gaur , c.1450 A.D.

One of two attached columns which make up the archway

Presented by Reginald Porch, Esq.

Given by Reginald Porch, Magistrate at Malda. J.D. Beglar, assistant to Alexander Cunningham, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India in the 1888 Report on Bengal, reported that he had 'seen in the compound of the then Magistrate of Malda, the late Mr. Porch, a set of lintels obtained from Pandua, [the Sultan's capital for a century from the mid 14th century, after which it returned to Gaur] which he, when going on his last furlong packed up and carried off to England'. (quoted in Syed Mahmudul Hasan, 1979, p.135). Hasan assumes these architectural pieces to be those now in the V&A Museum and that they came from the ruined mosque of Firuz Shah II which stands close to the abandoned indigo factory at Goamalti in the south-west part of English Bazar in the District of Malda, which was the British settlement established between the cities of Gaur and Pandua.

The description given in the South Kensington Museum (now V&A) Indian Section inventory of 1883 for this object and the other parts with V&A Museum number IS.3395-1883 is as follows:

‘SEVEN PIECES OF STONE-WORK arranged to form an archway. The whole is richly carved with conventional floral decoration. Brought from the dismantled factories of Goamalti and Chandri, buildings erected at the close of the 18th cent. with materials taken from the ruins of the ancient city of Gaur, Bengal. The date of the stonework is about 1450 A.D. H. 10 ft. 6 in., W. 7 ft. 9 in. Presented by Reginald Porch, Esq. 3395.-1883 (I.S.).

Brought from the dismantled factories of Goamalti and Chandri, buildings erected at the close of the 18th century, with materials taken from the ruins of the ancient city of Gaur, Bengal.

IS.3395:3-1883