album cover
Album Cover
ca. 1854 (made), late 18th century-early 19th century (made), late 18th to early 19th century (made)
ca. 1854 (made), late 18th century-early 19th century (made), late 18th to early 19th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The cover is made of boards covered in mashru fabric of probable late 18th- or early nineteenth-century date which is glued over them. The textile has vertical stripes that are decorated with rows of daisy-like flowers created by bands of supplementary pattern wefts. The alternate crimson and white stripes are separated by narrow bright green stripes outlined in black. The white stripes have alternate blue and salmon pink flowers with leaves and stalks in two tones of sage and bright green, while the crimson stripes are ornamented with white-petalled flowers outlined in alternate crimson and sage green with the leaves and stalks in bright green and gold.
The binding has a 'French' head band with a treble core bound in silk threads in shades of brown, ivory and beige separated by narrow bands of pale and darker turquoise threads. The insides of the covers are laid with cream-coloured paper. The album consists of two cream-coloured fly leaves in paper and card, 56 folios of Indian miniature paintings on both sides, with portraits or scenes with figures on facing pages, alternating with flower paintings. There is a further blank page in cream-coloured card and an end paper in cream-coloured paper at the back of the album. The pages have gutters in either a woven cloth tape or paper which are bound together and attached to the cover. The edges of the gutters, like the edges of all the pages, are gilded.
The binding has a 'French' head band with a treble core bound in silk threads in shades of brown, ivory and beige separated by narrow bands of pale and darker turquoise threads. The insides of the covers are laid with cream-coloured paper. The album consists of two cream-coloured fly leaves in paper and card, 56 folios of Indian miniature paintings on both sides, with portraits or scenes with figures on facing pages, alternating with flower paintings. There is a further blank page in cream-coloured card and an end paper in cream-coloured paper at the back of the album. The pages have gutters in either a woven cloth tape or paper which are bound together and attached to the cover. The edges of the gutters, like the edges of all the pages, are gilded.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | album cover (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Painted in opaque watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Painting, Small Clive Album cover, Mughal, 18th century |
| Physical description | The cover is made of boards covered in mashru fabric of probable late 18th- or early nineteenth-century date which is glued over them. The textile has vertical stripes that are decorated with rows of daisy-like flowers created by bands of supplementary pattern wefts. The alternate crimson and white stripes are separated by narrow bright green stripes outlined in black. The white stripes have alternate blue and salmon pink flowers with leaves and stalks in two tones of sage and bright green, while the crimson stripes are ornamented with white-petalled flowers outlined in alternate crimson and sage green with the leaves and stalks in bright green and gold. The binding has a 'French' head band with a treble core bound in silk threads in shades of brown, ivory and beige separated by narrow bands of pale and darker turquoise threads. The insides of the covers are laid with cream-coloured paper. The album consists of two cream-coloured fly leaves in paper and card, 56 folios of Indian miniature paintings on both sides, with portraits or scenes with figures on facing pages, alternating with flower paintings. There is a further blank page in cream-coloured card and an end paper in cream-coloured paper at the back of the album. The pages have gutters in either a woven cloth tape or paper which are bound together and attached to the cover. The edges of the gutters, like the edges of all the pages, are gilded. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'Powis 1854' inscribed in black ink on the inner side of the front cover. '118 minaturs [sic]' inscribed in pencil on the reverse of the first fly leaf. 'With very few exceptions which are marked/these are Indian Drawings of Mogul potentates mostly 17th or 18th century/ note by Sir Herbert Reade' inscribed in pencil on the last paper page. |
| Credit line | Gift of Mr. John Goelet |
| Object history | The album was probably rebound in England just prior to or during 1854. There is no archival evidence of the presence of this album prior to this date at Powis Castle. It has been assumed that the album was acquired by Robert Clive, first Baron Clive of Plassey as a gift from Shuja ud-Daula, the Nawab of Avadh, after his last visit to India in 1765-67. The album has clearly been rebound in a European manner at a later date and covered with an Indian textile, probably made in the Madras Presidency, which may have been cut from one of the lengths brought home by the 2nd Lord Clive, later Ist Earl of Powis, who served as Governor of Madras, 1799-1803. The album was sold, along with two others, from Powis Castle at Sotheby's sale, London, 16 to 18 January 1956, lot 332A. Nominal File: MA/1/G979 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.48:57-1956 |
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| Record created | June 25, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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