An album, bound in painted leather covers, containing paintings and calligraphies

Object Details

• Court

  Mughal Court

• School/Tradition

  Mughal school

• Provenance

  ?

  Warren Hastings (1732-1818)

  , method of acquisition unknown [1]

  ? - 1907

  Colonel Henry Bathurst Hanna (1839-1914), method of acquisition unknown [2]

  1907 - 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Colonel Henry Bathurst Hanna [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] In the Freer Art Inventory, created sometime before Charles Lang Freer’s death in 1919, cataloguers include notations indicating Warren Hastings previously owned the work. See Art Inventories, Paintings: Indian and Persian, H. B. Hanna collection, undated, from FSA A.01, Box 65, Folder No. 10, from Charles Lang Freer Papers, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, copy in object file.

  Warren Hastings was born in Churchill, Oxfordshire, England and served as the British governor-general of India, 1774-1785. Hastings first gained employment with the East India Company in 1750 and traveled to India the same year. He worked for the East India Company in India until 1765. At that time, Hastings returned to England, although in 1769, he traveled back to India as second in Council in Madras and later became governor and then governor-general of Bengal in 1774. Hastings retired from that post in 1785 and returned to England.

  [2] Colonel Henry Bathurst Hanna was an officer in the British military and a collector of Indian paintings. Born in Petersfield, Hampshire, England, Hanna’s family later moved to London, where he was baptized in 1851. Beginning in 1857, Hanna served as a commissioned officer in the Indian Army and retired with the rank of Colonel in 1889. After his retirement, he resided in London and Petersfield with his younger sisters. According to Hanna, he began collecting Indian paintings around the time of the Indian Rebellion (1857-1859). See letter from Henry Bathurst Hanna to Charles Lang Freer, dated April 10, 1908 [sic, 1907], p. 3, Box 17, Folder No. 10, Charles Lang Freer Papers, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

  [3] See the Charles Lang Freer art voucher no. 24, “For a collection of Indo-Persian pictures and manuscripts” from H. B. Hanna of Heathmere, Petersfield, Hants. [Hampshire], England, from October 1907, Box 114, Folder No. 12, Charles Lang Freer Papers, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., copy in object file.

  [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

  Research updated February 22, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Body Image (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  At the Margins (June 4 to November 30, 1997)

  South and South East Asian Art (May 9, 1993 to February 7, 2000)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Warren Hastings (1732 - 1818)

  Colonel Henry Bathurst Hanna (1839-1914) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh state, India

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Album

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1800s, 1700s

• Name

  Hastings, Warren, Freer, Charles Lang, Hanna, Henry Bathurst

• Place

  Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh state, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Mughal dynasty (1526 - 1858), Lacquer

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Albums