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Showing posts with label British Museum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British Museum. Show all posts
Sunday, 19 October 2014
Kollam in Cambridge: a ninth century Indian document and its nineteenth century rediscovery
In pre-modern South Asia, important legal documents were inscribed onto copper sheets; known as copper plate grants, these are one of the main sources for medieval Indian history. The Kollam plates record endowments and privileges awarded in 849 CE to an Eastern (Syrian) Christian church at the port of the same name in Kerala and are among the most fascinating medieval grant documents from South Asia.
Europeans had known of the existence of the Kollam plates since the sixteenth century, but for a few centuries their whereabouts remained unknown, until they were rediscovered in the Cochin Fort in 1806. It is in this context that Claudius Buchanan, a Cambridge alumnus and Vice-Provost of Fort William College in Calcutta, commissioned a set of copper printing plates to produce prints of what he termed “the Christian tablets of Malabar”. In the pre-photographic era prints were one of the main means of disseminating epigraphic records or other historical documents. While the Kollam plates have recently been studied within an Indian Ocean context, in the nineteenth century missionaries and scholars like Buchanan sought in them evidence for the history of Indian Christianity and the potential for expanded missionary activity in the sub-continent.
Buchanan’s are the earliest reproductions of this important document and sets of prints were circulated to Indian ‘pandits’ and “learned societies in Asia and Europe” in an effort to decipher the main text of the grant.
You can view these incredible copper plates in a free exhibition, Kollam in Cambridge, in the entrance hall of Cambridge University Library until 8th November 2014, where Buchanan's plates are complemented by informative banners produced by De Montfort University and the British Museum.
More information about the copper plates from Kollam, and their value to historians of early and medieval Indian history, is available on the project website: http://849ce.org.uk/ . The project was led by De Montfort University in collaboration with The British Museum and was funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/I025948/1).
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
British photography in Tibet
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Tibetan musician (Cambridge University Library, Y3039A/55) |
I recently discovered an amazing resource for the study of Tibet. The Tibet Album : British photography in Central Tibet, 1920-1950 provides online access to over 6000 digital images of Tibet, together with biographical information on the photographers, maps and access to the collection by date and place.
The original photographs are held in the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) and the British Museum (London) and digitisation project was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
See: http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/
The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University holds the Frederick Williamson Collection. Frederick Williamson was a British Political Officer stationed in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet in the 1930s. He was also an ardent photographer. Between December 1930-August 1935, he and his wife, Margaret Williamson, shot approximately 1700 photographs throughout the Himalayan region. As well as documenting the Williamsons' personal travels, the photos provide an unusually well-preserved and well-catalogued insight into social life in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet during the 1930s. Williamson also shot 23 reels of 16mm cine film while in Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. These have now been digitised and can be viewed online.
Also in Cambridge, the Centre of South Asian Studies holds three 16 mm films by Arthur John Hopkinson, Political Officer in Sikkim, 1945-48. One of these was taken on an extended tour of Tibet in 1947-48. The Centre also holds transparencies and negatives taken in Tibet in 1934 by H.B. Hudson. Colonel H. B. Hudson served in the Indian Army from the 1930s until Independence. He travelled widely and spent one year in Tibet and made three survey journeys for the Himalaya Route Books. The Centre of South Asian Studies holds his memoir, A backward glance.
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Group at Giagong on the Tibetan Frontier (Cambridge University Library, Y302592A/17) |
For more information on the opening photograph of a Tibetan musician by Benjamin Simpson, see: http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/1192
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
South Indian painting at the British Museum
Thursday 21 October 2010
South Indian painting at the British Museum
18:30 Stevenson Lecture Theatre
Anna Dallapiccola, University of Edinburgh, will speak about two different co-existing South Indian painting traditions - the Company paintings made for European clients in the 19th century, and the vibrantly painted narratives used by local storytellers.
£5, concessions £3
Book tickets through the British Museum Ticket Desk on +44 (0)20 7323 8181 or in person, daily 10:00-16:45.
South Indian painting at the British Museum
18:30 Stevenson Lecture Theatre
Anna Dallapiccola, University of Edinburgh, will speak about two different co-existing South Indian painting traditions - the Company paintings made for European clients in the 19th century, and the vibrantly painted narratives used by local storytellers.
£5, concessions £3
Book tickets through the British Museum Ticket Desk on +44 (0)20 7323 8181 or in person, daily 10:00-16:45.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Temporary post at British Museum
Tabor Foundation Research Assistant, Asia
London
£21,807 per annum
Fixed-term for 23 months
As Tabor Foundation Research Assistant you will use your academic expertise to provide information on items in the collection. This role would be suitable for anyone looking to begin a career in the Museum sector. You will also be responsible for creating new data and images of parts of the South and Southeast Asia collections, and uploading these records onto the Museum’s online database, Merlin. Initially, this post will involve a one year extensive training period with the first Tabor Foundation Research Assistant, whereby they will demonstrate and share the skills and techniques necessary for the post.
Additionally, you will have responsibility for some original research on collection objects. You will work on other projects concerned with South and Southeast Asian culture, such as exhibitions, when required. This role involves dealing with a very large and diverse collection that requires the ability and research skills to accurately generate cataloguing information.
Educated to degree level (or equivalent) in a subject relevant to South Asia (archaeology, art history etc.), you will also have the ability to write well. Familiarity with data entry (both written and images) is essential. You will work well as part of a team, but also work alone once your initial training has been completed.
For further information or a full application pack, please visit www.britishmuseum.org/jobs or email bm@peoplemedia.co.uk quoting reference 76032.
Closing date: 1 April 2009.
London
£21,807 per annum
Fixed-term for 23 months
As Tabor Foundation Research Assistant you will use your academic expertise to provide information on items in the collection. This role would be suitable for anyone looking to begin a career in the Museum sector. You will also be responsible for creating new data and images of parts of the South and Southeast Asia collections, and uploading these records onto the Museum’s online database, Merlin. Initially, this post will involve a one year extensive training period with the first Tabor Foundation Research Assistant, whereby they will demonstrate and share the skills and techniques necessary for the post.
Additionally, you will have responsibility for some original research on collection objects. You will work on other projects concerned with South and Southeast Asian culture, such as exhibitions, when required. This role involves dealing with a very large and diverse collection that requires the ability and research skills to accurately generate cataloguing information.
Educated to degree level (or equivalent) in a subject relevant to South Asia (archaeology, art history etc.), you will also have the ability to write well. Familiarity with data entry (both written and images) is essential. You will work well as part of a team, but also work alone once your initial training has been completed.
For further information or a full application pack, please visit www.britishmuseum.org/jobs or email bm@peoplemedia.co.uk quoting reference 76032.
Closing date: 1 April 2009.
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