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Not currently on display at the V&A

Drawing

1870 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911) was born in Pickering, Yorkshire. His interest in art and design was aroused by a visit to the Great Exhibition of 1851 and he later became involved in the decoration of the Victoria and Albert Museum; he is depicted in a relief panel on the pediment of the Museum's Lecture Theatre. At the end of 1864, he was appointed Architectural Sculptor, one of three new posts for artist-craftsmen at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art and Industry in Bombay; he later became its Principal. In the following March he married and a few weeks later set off for a new life in India. In December 1865 his first son was born and christened Rudyard after the place in Staffordshire where his parents had first met. As well as teaching, Lockwood Kipling made decorative designs for buildings in Bombay and even designed the uniforms and decorations for Lord Lytton's Imperial Assemblage of 1877, at which Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. In 1875 he was appointed head of the new Mayo College of Arts in Lahore, where he promoted traditional Indian crafts, which had been declining in the face of cheap European imports. In 1870 Kipling had been commissioned by the government to tour the North-West Provinces and make a series of sketches of Indian craftsmen.This one, depicting gold-embroiderers at work in Delhi, was drawn in November 1870.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pencil, pen and wash
Brief description
Drawing of three men seated at an embroidery loom working on gold embroidery. Delhi 1870.
Physical description
Three men, two wearing caps and one in a turban, are seated at an embroidery frame. All are working in collaboration on gold embroidery with various tools including scissors, a shuttle, needle and thread.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26cm
  • Width: 36.6cm
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Delhi Nov 1870 J.L.K 4419: On Verso, 30. Gold embroidery Delhi. J.L.KIPLING (English; Lockwood; 1870)
Object history
Historical significance: John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911) was born in Yorkshire but as his career developed became an established artist and scholar, and in 1865 settled in India with his family. He became professor of architectural sculpture at the JeeJeebhay School of Art in Bombay and in 1882 curator of the Lahore Museum. During his career JL Kipling was a member of the Department of Art and Science at the Victoria and Albert Museum and was also involved in the museum's decoration. John Lockwood Kipling was the father of Rudyard Kipling, author of the famous novels Jungle Book and Kim.

Transferred from the India Museum in 1879. 1880 Register Entry: [ Room 8. On The Wall.] '0929. TWENTY-EIGHT FRAMES, glazed, each containing two sketches, by J. L. Kipling, of the School of Art, Bombay, illustrating the craftsmen of North-western India. 1 to 56'
Summary
John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911) was born in Pickering, Yorkshire. His interest in art and design was aroused by a visit to the Great Exhibition of 1851 and he later became involved in the decoration of the Victoria and Albert Museum; he is depicted in a relief panel on the pediment of the Museum's Lecture Theatre. At the end of 1864, he was appointed Architectural Sculptor, one of three new posts for artist-craftsmen at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art and Industry in Bombay; he later became its Principal. In the following March he married and a few weeks later set off for a new life in India. In December 1865 his first son was born and christened Rudyard after the place in Staffordshire where his parents had first met. As well as teaching, Lockwood Kipling made decorative designs for buildings in Bombay and even designed the uniforms and decorations for Lord Lytton's Imperial Assemblage of 1877, at which Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. In 1875 he was appointed head of the new Mayo College of Arts in Lahore, where he promoted traditional Indian crafts, which had been declining in the face of cheap European imports. In 1870 Kipling had been commissioned by the government to tour the North-West Provinces and make a series of sketches of Indian craftsmen.This one, depicting gold-embroiderers at work in Delhi, was drawn in November 1870.
Bibliographic references
  • Rohatgi P. and Parlett G., assisted by Imray S. and Godrej P. Indian Life and Landscape by Western Artists: Paintings and Drawings from the Victoria and Albert Museum, 17th to the early 20th century. Published by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, in association with V&A, London, 2008. ISBN 81-901020-9-5. p. 322, pl. 37
  • The Indian Heritage. Court life and Arts under Mughal Rule London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982 Number: ISBN 0 906969 26 3 cat. no. 116, p. 55, Andrew Topsfield
  • Bryant, Julius and Weber, Susan; John Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and London Newhaven: Yale University Press, 2017 fig. 9.12, p. 216
Other number
30 - India Museum Slip Book
Collection
Accession number
0929:30/(IS)

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Record createdNovember 4, 2002
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