Eighteenth-Century Indian Muraqqaʿs, Audiences – Artists – Patrons and Collectors, 2024

Brill, Islamic Manuscripts and Books, Volume: 23, edited by Friederike Weis

The marginal decoration of the albums produced for Antoine Polier is unique within the large corpus of eighteenth-century Indian painting. The striking margins are characterised by their complex floral motifs and scrolls, and although they are of varying quality, they can always be recognised as being part of Polier’s collection. In the early 1770s, Polier established a painting workshop in Faizabad with the help of Mihr Chand and other unnamed painters and craftsmen who most likely came from Delhi. There, they produced a large number of albums, mixing decorative practices inherited from the Mughal kitābkhāna with a new repertoire of motifs, one most likely inspired by the motifs used by European trading companies for the production of textiles sold on the European markets, such as palampores and kalamkaris. Several hands can be identified in the margins of the albums produced in the mid-1770s, suggesting that the Faizabad workshop was relatively large and busy. Through an analysis of the margins, the role of Indian painters and craftsmen working for Polier is examined, as well as the impact on the albums of Polier’s taste and cultural background.

Click on the link to access the volume on Brill’s website (open source)