Add Or 813-885

Seventy-three floral designs assembled by a painter or craftsman.

Mughal, 18th century.

Presented.

Inscriptions: many of the drawings are inscribed in English ‘Wood’ or’ On Wood’ suggesting that the designs were intended to be used for woodwork or furniture decoration. Number 1881 is a piece of paper bearing an inscription in the hand of Mr Mickle (clerk at the Library until 24 March 1832): ‘Patterns of paintings on wood used for cabinets, boudoirs etc .in the reigns of the Mogul Emperors - Specimens of these finished and half finished copied from a painter’s board sent to the Emperor Aurangze’b. This information is almost certainly speculative being probably based on word of mouth information provided by the donor.

Drawings on paper, some partly coloured with gouache.

Sizes range from 67 by 48 mm to 105 by 302 mm.

The designs are mostly of a formal nature showing sprigs of flowers derived from illustrations in flower books and adapted for decorative use of the type found on the borders of eighteenth-century album leaves or inlaid furniture, enamel work, architectural ornament, etc. A number of the designs have a distinctly far-eastern flavour, suggesting that they may have been taken from decorative objects imported from China or Japan.