WD1303

Pen-and-ink and wash on proof engraving of a temple at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu Between 30 January and 2 February 1804.

Note: 'Pagoda at Tanjore', plate 10, ‘Views.’ Described Valentia, i, 351-68.

This image forms plate 10, 'Pagoda at Tanjore', of Henry Salt's 'Twenty Four Views in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt'. Viscount Valentia (George Annesley) wrote, "Within the small fort is the celebrated pagoda, the chief building of which is the finest specimen of the pyramidal temple in India...The great temple itself is certainly a very beautiful piece of architecture, and different in its top and ornaments from any other I have met with...". He also described the black granite statue of the bull Nandi, legendarily the vehicle of Shiva, in front of the temple which was supposed to increase in size: "which in reality it may do, as it is constantly covered with gee, to which the dirt adheres ... beyond the Pagoda are seen the lofty gateways of the citadel in which the Pagoda stands, and to the right several buildings included in the Palace of the Rajah of Tanjore. The country itself is extremely fertile, and covered with fruit trees."