Textile, wool, Pune

Sample, quarter of a carpet. Background of central field is red. All over pattern of flowers and foliage, within which a blue band containing a string of flowers winds randomly. Flowers of various sizes and colours: two tones of yellow, light blue, pink, red, green, white and brown. A wide border has a black background, decorated with various large flowers in orange, red, two tones of blue and of green, purple and white. This band is contained within thinner bands of stylized flowers and foliage.

Purchased from Messrs Procter & Co, Indian Art Gallery, 428 Oxford Street

The set of carpets and carpet fragments numbering I.S. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10-1899 are reproductions of original carpets from the Assar Mahal Palace of Bijapur. In 1882, on his purchasing trip to India, Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke visited the Assar Mahal Palace and was informed that the carpets at the Palace could be obtained by purchase. However, when he returned to Bombay [Mumbai], he found out that the Government of India would not permit their sale. His offer, however, attracted the attention of the Governor of Pune Jail, who obtained the carpets on loans to produce copies. The first copies were made for Mr J P Watson of Bombay. He had retained some of these reproductions as working samples, but upon giving up his business, Watson offered them to the V&A. Their purchase were sanctioned by Caspar Purdon Clarke in his role as Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1899. [RP 84110/1899, in Nominal File MA/1/P2620, Procter and Company]

Purchased from Messrs Procter & Co, Indian Art Gallery, 428 Oxford Street. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Museum records (Asia Department registers and/or Central Inventory) as part of a 2023 provenance research project.

IS.3-1899