Indian Drawings 13 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

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Persian Manuscripts

Fourteen folios of paintings and calligraphy from an album of assembled at Lucknow for Swiss mercenary Antoine Polier (d. 1795).

Contents

Summary of Contents: Fourteen folios of South Asian paintings and Persian calligraphy detached from an album assembled for Swiss mercenary Colonel Antoine-Louis-Henri Polier (d. 1795), probably at Lucknow and overseen by artist Mihr Chand, between 1780 to 1787. Disordered from its original sequence, the opening folio (now found on 9b) states the original album contained forty leaves. Despite its incomplete and rebound condition, it still constitutes a significant portion of one of Polier's albums to survive today.
Title: Album of South Asian Painting and Persian Calligraphy of Antoine Polier (d. 1795)
Language(s): Persian and Arabic
Folio 1a
Title: Portrait of Shujā‘ al-Dawlah (b. 1732, r. 1754–1775)

Portrait format, mounted vertically

Language(s): No linguistic content

Illustration: 228 × 160 mm. Interior Margin: 255 × 187 mm. Intermediate Margin: 367 × 245 mm. Exterior Margin: 396 × 275 mm.

Folio 1b
Title: Thuluth Arabic Calligraphy

Landscape format, rotated 90º counter-clockwise.

Calligraphy: 164 × 274 mm. Interior Margin: 190 × 300 mm. Intermediate Margin: 246 × 365 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 275 mm.

Folio 2a
Title: Nobleman with moustache on a veranda holds a rose in his right hand.

Portrait format, mounted vertically

Illustration: 172 × 131 mm. Interior Margin: 198 × 156 mm. Intermediate Margin: 370 × 248 mm. Exterior Margin: 401 × 278 mm.

Folio 2b
Title: Ornate prose shikastah

Portrait format, mounted vertically.

Calligraphy: 244 × 154 mm. Interior Margin: 271 × 180 mm. Intermediate Margin: 370 × 246 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 278 mm.

Folio 3a
Title: Princess worships at a Yoni Lingham

Portrait format, mounted vertically.

Illustration: 177 × 121 mm. Interior Margin: 205 × 147 mm. Intermediate Margin: 370 × 247 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 275 mm.

Folio 3b
Title: Calligraphy by Mir ‘Ali

Portrait format, mounted vertically.

Calligraphy: 157 × 86 mm. Interior Margin: 185 × 113 mm. Intermediate Margin: 370 × 247 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 276 mm. Marbled paper

Folio 4a
Title: Stork

Portrait format, mounted vertically.

Illustration: 197 × 102 mm. Interior Margin: 227 × 128 mm. Intermediate Margin: 370 × 245 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 275 mm.

Title: Shikastah prose composition on dark brick red paper

Portrait format, mounted vertically.

Calligraphy: 172 × 133 mm. Interior Margin: 187 × 148 mm. Intermediate Margin: 365 × 245 mm. Exterior Margin: 395 × 275 mm.

Folio 5a
Title: Prophet, Ali, Hasan, and Husayn

Portrait format, mounted vertically.

Illustration: 245 × 173 mm. Interior Margin: 270 × 198 mm. Intermediate Margin: 374 × 248 mm. Exterior Margin: 401 × 280 mm.

Folio 5b
Title: Thuluth Arabic Calligraphy

Landscape format, rotated 90º counter-clockwise.

Calligraphy: 164 × 274 mm. Interior Margin: 193 × 301 mm. Intermediate Margin: 246 × 370 mm. Exterior Margin: 280 × 400 mm.

Folio 6a
Title: Elephant and Mahout

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Illustration: 196 × 143 mm. Interior Margin: 226 × 172 mm. Intermediate Margin: 357 × 238 mm. Exterior Margin: 392 × 270 mm.

Folio 6b
Title: Polier Ex-Libris

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Calligraphy: 183 × 183 mm. Interior Margin: 210 × 205 mm. Intermediate Margin: 355 × 240 mm. Exterior Margin: 385 × 270 mm.

Folio 7a
Title: Water buffalo

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Illustration: 223 × 123 mm. Interior Margin: 248 × 147 mm. Intermediate Margin: 368 × 247 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 275 mm.

Folio 7b
Title: Shikastah prose composition on marbled paper

Portrait format, oblique

Calligraphy: 155 × 118 mm. Interior Margin: 174 × 137 mm. Intermediate Margin: 373 × 257 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 275 mm.

Folio 8a
Title: Tahmasp Minister of Nadir Shah

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Illustration: 110 × 88 mm. Interior Margin: 137 × 114 mm. Intermediate Margin: 368 × 245 mm. Exterior Margin: 395 × 275 mm.

Folio 8b
Title: Calligraphy by ‘Abd al-Rashid

Portrait format, written at an oblique angle. Handle with caution, breaking in the gutter margin

Calligraphy: 197 × 98 mm. Interior Margin: 223 × 123 mm. Intermediate Margin: 366 × 245 mm. Exterior Margin: 397 × 272 mm.

Folio 9a
Title: Ascetic

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Illustration: 206 × 118 mm. Interior Margin: 277 × 190 mm. Intermediate Margin: 368 × 248 mm. Exterior Margin: 396 × 275 mm.

Folio 9b
Title: Nasta‘līq murrabkibāt

Landscape format, rotated 90º counter-clockwise.

Calligraphy: 78 × 148 mm. Interior Margin: 108 × 178 mm. Intermediate Margin: 240 × 363 mm. Exterior Margin: 273 × 393 mm.

Chinese silk brocade hinge in the gutter may be a repair.

Folio 10a
Title: Portrait of Shuja‘ al-Dawlah

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Illustration: 266 × 160 mm. Interior Margin: 295 × 187 mm. Intermediate Margin: 370 × 246 mm. Exterior Margin: 403 × 278 mm.

Folio 10b
Title: Nasta‘līq murrabkibāt

Landscape format, rotated 90º clockwise.

Calligraphy: 85 × 148 mm. Interior Margin: 117 × 178 mm. Intermediate Margin: 363 × 242 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 275 mm.

Folio 11a
Title: European scene
Contributor, Composer, Artist, Autographer and Inscriber: Mihr Chand

Landscape format, rotated 90º clockwise.

Illustration: 177 × 255 mm. Interior Margin: 207 × 265 mm. Intermediate Margin: 366 × 242 mm. Exterior Margin: 400 × 275 mm.

Folio 11b
Title: Nasta‘līq murrabkibāt

Landscape format, rotated 90º clockwise.

Calligraphy: 85 × 148 mm. 295 × 187 mm.

Folio 12a
Title: Asaf al-Dawlah

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Illustration: 10 × 78 mm. Interior Margin: 122 × 100 mm. Intermediate Margin: 266 × 162 mm.

Folio 12b
Title: Nasta‘līq murrabkibāt

Landscape format, rotated 90º clockwise.

Calligraphy: 85 × 148 mm. 295 × 187 mm.

Folio 13a
Title: Portrait of ‘Umd al-Mulk Amīr Khān

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Illustration: 217 × 144 mm. Interior Margin: 242 × 170 mm. Intermediate Margin: 370 × 248 mm.

Folio 13b
Title: Shikastah calligraphy on marbled paper

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Calligraphy: 164 × 183 mm.

Folio 14a
Title: Princess smokes a hookah on a veranda

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Illustration: 227 × 156 mm. Interior Margin: 245 × 313 mm.

Folio 14b
Title: Shikastah murakkibāt (letter combinations in broken script)

Portrait format, vertically mounted.

Calligraphy: 165 × 80 mm.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: All items uniformly mounted on thin laminates of at least six layers of ivory-coloured paper, probably handmade in Awadh, all sized and polished, then fully decorated (see decoration). All mounts interleaved with very thin, ivory-coloured, machine-made and calendered paper paper, probably manufactured in Britain, tipped onto the gutters.
Extent: 14 interleaved folios, 8 flyleaves (ff. iv + 14 + iv).
Dimensions (leaf): 482 × 283 mm.
Foliation: Modern pencilled Arabic numbers, from left to right, on the upper-right corners of the a sides throughout.

Collation

Collation disrupted and reconfigured when rebound, with Polier's ex libris, originally the opening folios, displaced on 6b. Currently comprised of primarily binions made by hinging the mounts together with thin cotton shirting adhered to the gutters.

Condition

Underlying mounts in fair condition, with some damage to the edges and bumped ocrners. Interleaving in fair but stable condition, with occasional staining, soiling, and creasing. Moderate staining and insect damage to the central compositions.

Layout

All items individually mounted in either portrait or landscape format.

Decoration

Illumination: Folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece with gilt palmette foliate scrollwork on an ultramarine ground and an uninscribed central cartouche, and four vertical radiating lines.

Floral Margins: Polychrome hand-painted floral scrollwork margins, all executed by the same, unidentified commercial artist, whose ubiquitous hand similarly embellish a majority of Polier's album folios.

Applied Margins: Strips of indigo, salmon pink, and slate-coloured papers, measuring ~9–10 mm wide, adhered as decorative borders then painted in gold and silver with various deigns frame all central compositions and folio perimeters.

Ruling: Folios 1b and 2a ruled in gold outlined with thin black lines, and surrounded by another single line. The margins of folios 2b onwards ruled with single lines of ultramarine blue.

Additions:
Bookplates: Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘F/3’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 20’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘10’ written aside.

Binding

Probably rebound for former owner Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), as the volume matches another album that he formerly owned (Indian Drawings 13), another ex-Polier album that Bland previously obtained from an unidentified source.

Sewn on five recessed cords. Case-bound, hollow-backed, covered in full, black levant-grained goatskin leather over pasteboards with light blue silk lining the board interiors. Earlier flyleaves of medium-weight, cross-grained, ivory-coloured, externally sized and polished paper probably handmade in Awadh, with heavily flocked, machine-made blue paper flyleaves added to the volume when restored.

415 × 298 × 52 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with breakage in the gutter margins.

History

Origin: Probably assembled by Mihr Chand for Colonel Antoine-Louis-Henri Polier (1741–1795) in Lucknow; undated, but circa 1773–1780 CE.

Provenance and Acquisition

Likely taken with Polier when he returned to Europe.

After Bland's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866.

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library.

Record Sources

Bibliographical description based on a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s.

Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2026 with reference to the volume in hand, and in consultation with Friederike Weis, regarding Polier's other album in relation to this one.

Availability

To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.

Bibliography

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

Subjects

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