MS 380 (Manuscript Collections, The Fitzwilliam Museum)

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A Collection of 77 Songs

Title: Collection of 77 Indian Songs

Language(s): Persian and Urdu

References

MS 380

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Paper, flecked in gold and silver.

Extent: 100 ff. + 39 loose sheets

Dimensions (leaf): 260 × 330 mm.

Layout

The layout of the text varies depending on the song, usually written in multiple columns, if it is music text it is 10 staves of music to a page.

Hand(s)

Decoration

Each page of music is framed in coloured rules. Sheets with the musical text often present decorative borders in a variety of colours on gold or silver, with figurative drawings.

Seal(s):

History

Origin: 1786 CELucknow.

Provenance and Acquisition

The book was compiled and its contents collected by Elizabeth Sophia Plowden, in Lucknow. The book was then given to Lady Colville. Given to the Fitzwilliam Museum by Miss Strachey and Miss Philippa Strachey in 1942.

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on Francis Wormald and Phyllis M. Giles "A Descriptive Catalogue of the Additional Illuminated Manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum acquired between 1895 and 1979 (excluding the McClean Collection)", Cambridge University Press, 1982; with corrections and additions supplied by Marcus Fraser and Giorgia M. Maffioli Brigatti. The MS has been published as cat. n. 36-37, in Marcus Fraser "From Kabul to Kolkata: Highlights of Indian Paintings in The Fitzwilliam Museum", The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 2017, pp. 84-85.

Availability

The manuscript can be consulted in the Graham Robertson Study room at The Fitzwilliam Museum, on an appointment only basis. To request an appointment, please email collections@fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk citing the manuscript number.

Subjects

Songs, Persian

Comments

Comment on this record

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World