Drawings of the gateways at Sanchi
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Sanchi reemerged as a place of great significance in the scholarship of Buddhist India in the early nineteenth century, and numerous efforts were made to record it. In 1849 Frederick Charles Maisey, a British army engineer, was assigned to document Sanchi and other antiquities of central India. Concentrating initially on making drawings of the gateways, Maisey was later joined by Alexander Cunningham, who excavated the stupa’s reliquaries. While the bulk of the gateway drawings were sent to London and are now in the British Library, some remained with Maisey and passed to his descendants.
Artwork Details
- Title: Drawings of the gateways at Sanchi
- Artist: Frederick Charles Maisey (British, 1825–1892)
- Date: 1849–50 and 1850–51
- Culture: India
- Medium: Pencil with opaque watercolor highlights on paper
- Dimensions: Sheet (sheet a, plate XXVII): 7 in. × 20 9/16 in. (17.8 × 52.2 cm)
Sheet (sheet b, plate X): 12 11/16 × 8 13/16 in. (32.2 × 22.4 cm)
Image (sheet b, plate X): 10 in. × 5 5/16 in. (25.4 × 13.5 cm)
Sheet (sheet c, plate XXI): 12 13/16 × 10 1/8 in. (32.6 × 25.7 cm)
Image (sheet c, plate XXI, top image): 5 11/16 × 6 7/8 in. (14.5 × 17.4 cm)
Image (sheet c, plate XXI, bottom image): 6 in. × 5 3/8 in. (15.2 × 13.6 cm)
Sheet (sheet d, plate VIII): 13 1/8 × 10 7/16 in. (33.3 × 26.5 cm)
Image (sheet d, plate VIII, top image): 5 11/16 × 5 11/16 in. (14.5 × 14.5 cm)
Image (sheet d, plate VIII, bottom image): 6 9/16 × 5 3/16 in. (16.6 × 13.1 cm)
Sheet (sheet e, plate XII): 10 3/16 × 12 15/16 in. (25.9 × 32.9 cm)
Image (sheet e, plate XII, left image): 7 11/16 × 6 1/8 in. (19.5 × 15.6 cm)
Image (sheet e, plate XII, right image): 7 11/16 × 5 7/8 in. (19.5 × 14.9 cm) - Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Lent by Nicholas Gilbey and Mrs. Thomasin Nares, U.K.
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art