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Portrait of an Indian from Calcutta

Watercolour
1852 (Painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In Preziosi's time about a third of the population of Calcutta, capital of Bengal in north-east India, were Muslims. Many of them were merchants and the turbaned man shown here may have been a dealer in Indian shawls or some other textile. The Turkish idiom Hint kumasi (literally Indian cloth) describing any object which is expensive and rare, (sometimes ironically,) derives from the ancient tradition of trade with India.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitlePortrait of an Indian from Calcutta
Materials and techniques
Pencil and watercolour touched with while
Brief description
Portrait of an Indian from Calcutta, 1852. Aloysius Rosarius Amadeus Raymondus Andreas, known as Amadeo, 5th Count Preziosi
Physical description
Watercolour of an Indian man, seated, wearing a turban
Dimensions
  • Height: 32.1cm
  • Width: 23.5cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Indiana da Calcutta. II giugno 1852
Translation
An Indian from Calcutta 2nd June 1852
Object history
This is one of a group of 31 portraits, acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1900. They were once assembled in an album, but whether by Preziosi himself, or a member of his family, or subsequently, is not known.
Subject depicted
Place depicted
Summary
In Preziosi's time about a third of the population of Calcutta, capital of Bengal in north-east India, were Muslims. Many of them were merchants and the turbaned man shown here may have been a dealer in Indian shawls or some other textile. The Turkish idiom Hint kumasi (literally Indian cloth) describing any object which is expensive and rare, (sometimes ironically,) derives from the ancient tradition of trade with India.
Bibliographic reference
Llewellyn, Briony and Newton, Charles. The People and Places of Constantinople : watercolours by Amadeo Count Preziosi 1816-1882. London, Victori & Albert Museum, 1985
Collection
Accession number
D.21-1900

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
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