Indian Art 13


Watercolour of the Taj Mahal by an Indian artist, 1794. Reproduced by permission of the British Library.


writing down of oral histories. Sending a large Jain sculpture to East India House was a ploy to impress his masters in London, in the hope that they would recognise and financially support his work on topics such as Jainism. To ensure that the East India Company knew exactly who had sent the sculpture, Mackenzie carved ‘CMcK 1806’ into its back. In the early 19th century, when


Mackenzie had risen in the ranks and had more financial support,


his


research shifted towards historical discovery.


In particular, he is


remembered for his survey of the abandoned Buddhist Stupa at Amaravati in 1816-17. When he first discovered the stupa in the late 18th century, he mistakenly identified it as a Jain monument. When Mackenzie’s surveyors returned to the site 15 years later, they revealed that it was a Buddhist monument.


Mackenzie


arranged for at least seven of the sculpted stones unearthed at the site


to be sent to Calcutta, one of which was then sent on to the museum at East India House in London. Te exhibition includes a sculpted stone from Amaravati Stupa,


unfortunately it is not the one that Mackenzie sent to London. Te famous portrait of Colin


Mackenzie standing alongside three of his Indian assistants is also on display. It was painted at Madras in 1816 by Tomas Hickey,


shortly


before Mackenzie moved to Kolkata to take up the newly created post of Surveyor General of India. Tis diminutive painting is packed full of references to Mackenzie’s work. In particular, it shows that Mackenzie acknowledged and respected the contribution of the Indian men he employed as translators and informants. Soon after the portrait’s completion, Mackenzie sent it to his friend Henry Trail, who worked in the City of London as a private banker. Trail had extensive business


but


dealings with the East India Company, and presented the portrait to the Company’s Court of Directors for display in their library after Mackenzie’s death.


Te exhibition also features a group


of bronze statues. Tese are all from the south of India, except for one that Mackenzie collected in Java, where he spent two years conducting surveys between 1811 and 1813. Bronze sculptures were not the only thing that he took away from Java. It was there that he met Petronella Bartels, the teenage girl who became his wife. Amongst the drawings Mackenzie commissioned in Java, many of which evoke the fusion between Javanese and European customs at that time, there is a picture of a young European woman smoking a hookah, who is believed to be Petronella. Mackenzie died in 1821, when Petronella was in her mid-20s. Te East India Company purchased Mackenzie’s private collections from the young


Plan of the excavations at Amaravati, June 1817. Reproduced by permission of the British Library.


widow and sent them to East India House in London, where they were deposited in the Company’s library, under the watchful eye of Mackenzie’s portrait.


Collector Extraordinaire


celebrates Colin Mackenzie’s contribution towards Britain’s earliest understanding of Asian cultures. Curated by Catherine Maclean of An Lanntair in partnership with the Museum nan Eilean, it is part of the Purvai Project, which aims to inspire Indian and Scottish artists to draw upon Colin Mackenzie’s legacy. In 2017, Britain’s colonial past must be viewed through critical eyes. Collector Extraordinaire gives the viewer an opportunity to ponder some of the historical and social connections between British, Gaelic and South Asian cultures.


Until 18 November, at Museum nan Eilean, Lews Castle, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, lews-castle.co.uk


Gallery showing the stone sculpture of Parsvanatha (V&A) and some of Mackenzie’s drawings (British Library)


OCTOBER 2017 ASIAN ART


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