“Indiaansche pagoden en schrikkelyke boetdoeningen of lichaams kwellingen der fakirs”
(Indian pagodas and the bodily torments of Fakirs)


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a Dutch copy of Thomas Salmon (1679–1767), Tegenwoordige staat van de koninkryken (Present State of all Nations), translated by M. van Goch (Amsterdam: Isaak Tirion, 1731).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E335

“Fabulosa Brachmanum Narratio de 14 Mundorum genesi ex Bruma peracta”
(The fabulous tale of Brahmins about the fourteen worlds of Brahma)


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a Latin copy of Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), China Monumentis… (Amsterdam: J. Jansson à Waesberge & E. Weyerstraet, 1667).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E840

In his China Monumentis, the erudite German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher offered an account of the creation of the world by the Hindu deity Brahma. The story is visualized in this engraving as a European male encased within a radiating oval. Kircher’s sources are difficult to define, but he seems to draw on Indian concepts of cosmic man (purusha), who was born in the form of Brahma from a golden egg (hiranyagarbha). Brahma then created fourteen worlds or cycles of time from his limbs, which are circled on the print. In Kircher’s interpretation, these worlds categorize both time and human character within a social and intellectual hierarchy, from the brain to the toes. Read a section of Kircher’s account that relates to this print (pp. 144–45).

“Brama ou Bruma” (Brahma)


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a French copy of Bernard Picart, Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses des peuples idolatres (Ceremonies and religious customs of the idolatrous peoples), vol. 1 (Amsterdam: J. F. Bernard, 1723).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E401

Brahma and Groups of Ascetics, after Indian paintings


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a French copy of Henri Abraham Châtelain (1684–1743), Atlas Historique (Historic Atlas), vol. 5 (Amsterdam: Chez François L’Honoreî & Compagnie, 1719).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1190

Four Illustrations of Ascetics


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a French copy of Bernard Picart, Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses des peuples idolatres (Ceremonies and religious customs of the idolatrous peoples), vol. 1 (Amsterdam: J. F. Bernard, 1723).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E404

“Door wat middelen zy vergiffenis der zonden trachten te bekomen”
(By what means they obtain forgiveness of sins)


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a Dutch copy of Olfert Dapper (1636–1689), Asia: of Naukeurige beschryving van Het Rijk des Grooten Mogols (Amsterdam: Jacob van Meurs, 1672).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E691

Four Illustrations of Indian Ascetics Practicing Austerities


Copperplate engraving on paper
In a French copy of Bernard Picart, Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses des peuples idolatres (Ceremonies and religious customs of the idolatrous peoples), vol. 1 (Amsterdam: J. F. Bernard, 1723).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection

“The Punishment of Murder”


Woodcut with letterpress on paper
From a Latin copy of Sebastian Münster (1488–1552), Cosmographia (Basel: Sebastian Heinrich-Petri, 1552).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E951

“Religion”


Steel engraving with etching on paper
From an English copy of Albert Henry Payne (1812–1902), Payne’s Orbis Pictus, or book of beauty for every table (Dresden & Leipzig: A. H. Payne, ca. 1851).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E860

“Processus institus, quando Pagodes idolum per Narsingæ regnu solenniter circumuehitur”
(A Process instituted when temple idols in the kingdom of Narsinga are carried solemnly round…)


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a Latin copy of Theodore de Bry, Petits Voyages, Part II, Pars Indiae Orientalis (Frankfurt: Wolfgangi Richteri, 1599).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1157

"Forms of Saints or Vagabonds


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a Dutch copy of Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733), Voyagien der Engelsen (Voyages of the English) (Leyden: P. van der Aa, 1706).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1150

In the early 1700s, the prolific Dutch publisher Pieter van der Aa compiled travel accounts from the previous three centuries into multivolume sets that documented the world with the aid of engraved maps and illustrations. These two prints, which faced each other in the book, are from a section devoted to the voyages of the English, or Voyagien der Engelsen. They specifically illustrate the Dutch translation of Journey to India over-land by the British merchant Ralph Fitch, published in 1583. Fitch interpreted the scenes in the left-hand print as "strange ceremonies," such as Indian pilgrims bathing in the river Ganges and performing "penance" through "prostrations" to the sun and earth. The right-hand print actually shows Fitch observing an ascetic "who never spake," likely having taken a vow of silence. Though naming him a "monster among the rest" of the "beggars," Fitch intimately detailed the ascetic's figure, describing him as having "hair... so long and plentiful, that it covered his nakedness" and "nails... two inches long, as he would cut nothing from him."

Read a portion of Fitch’s Journey to India over-land.

“Penitents wash in the river Ganges”


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a Dutch copy of Pieter van der Aa (1659–1733), Voyagien der Engelsen (Voyages of the English) (Leyden: P. van der Aa, 1706).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1149

In the early 1700s, the prolific Dutch publisher Pieter van der Aa compiled travel accounts from the previous three centuries into multivolume sets that documented the world with the aid of engraved maps and illustrations. These two prints, which faced each other in the book, are from a section devoted to the voyages of the English, or Voyagien der Engelsen. They specifically illustrate the Dutch translation of Journey to India over-land by the British merchant Ralph Fitch, published in 1583. Fitch interpreted the scenes in the left-hand print as "strange ceremonies," such as Indian pilgrims bathing in the river Ganges and performing "penance" through "prostrations" to the sun and earth. The right-hand print actually shows Fitch observing an ascetic "who never spake," likely having taken a vow of silence. Though naming him a "monster among the rest" of the "beggars," Fitch intimately detailed the ascetic's figure, describing him as having "hair... so long and plentiful, that it covered his nakedness" and "nails... two inches long, as he would cut nothing from him."

Read a portion of Fitch’s Journey to India over-land.

Four Scenes from India


Copperplate engraving with etching on paper
From a French copy of Pieter van der Aa (1659–1733), La Galerie Agréable du Monde (The Pleasurable Gallery of the World),vol. 19: Persia, Mogol, Chine, Tartaria (Leyden: Pieter van der Aa, ca. 1725).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1431

“Culturgeschichte” (Cultural History)


Steel engraving with etching on paper
From a German copy of Johann Georg Heck (d. 1857), Systematischer Bilder-Atlas (A Systematic Picture Atlas) (Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von F. A. Brockhaus, ca. 1850).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E354

“Verschiedene Arten Von Fakirs”
(Different types of Fakirs)


Copperplate engraving with etching on paper
From a German copy after Abbé Prévost (1697–1763), Allgemeine Historie der Reisen zu Wasser und zu Lande (New General Collection of Voyages and Travels), vol. 11, edited by J. J. Schwabe (Leipzig: Bey Arkstee und Merkus, 1751).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1242

“Of the Faquirs… and of their Pennances”


Copperplate engraving on paper
From an English copy of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689), Six Voyages…, translated by John Phillips (London: printed for R. L. and M. P., 1678).
Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, DS411.5 .T23 E1678

“Divers Pagods and the Penitence of the Faquirs”


Copperplate engraving on paper
From an English copy of Bernard Picart, The Ceremonies and Religious Customs of the Idolatrous Nations, vol. 4, part 2 (London: printed for Claude du Bosc, 1733).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1340

The renowned engraver Bernard Picart numbered vignettes on this print to correlate with a descriptive key at the bottom. Below is the English transcription of the key printed on Claude du Bosc’s copy of Picart’s engraving. It includes descriptions of three temples, which Picart called “Pagods.” He noted that the central temple was dedicated to “Mamaniva,” a local goddess. Inside appears to be only the head of a sculpture, rather than a full figure. It is possible that a shrine was built around this fragment, as depicted in the print, or that it was an invention of the engraver. The other temples are dedicated to Rama, an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu and hero of the epic Ramayana.

Picart sought to give specific designations to the renouncers depicted in the print. “Faquir” (fakir) typically denotes a Muslim religious mendicant, while “Bramin” (Brahmin) refers to a member of the highest of the four Hindu castes or a Hindu priest. However, here Picart used both terms more broadly or misapplied them. He seems to use “faquir” as a general term to describe ascetics including Hindu devotees, and the term “Brahmin” is applied to a figure from the Jain religion.

Key by Bernard Picart
  • The great tree of the Banians.
  • A Pagod of the Idol Mamaniva, on one Side of which the Devotees are marked on the forehead with vermillion, on the other Side a Bramin takes their free-will offerings of Rice &c.
  • A Pagod of Ram.
  • Another pagod dedicated to Ram.
  • A Pagod where the penitential faquirs retire themselves.
  • A Cavern or close ditch impervious to the least gleam of day, only what passes through a little hole for that purpose, resorted to by a faquir several times in the Year.
  • A Faquir Sleeping upon a Cord.
  • Faquirs that remain all their lives in the same attitude living by the charity of female Devotees.
  • Several faquirs consulted, and invoked as Saints, by the women.
  • Various postures that some faquirs are in, several hours a day.
  • A Bramin with his nose & mouth muffled up, lest he should swallow the smallest Insect in drawing his breath. He likewise sweeps the ground before him as he walks lest he should tread upon any worm or other Insect.
  • Faquirs warming themselves.
  • A Faquir feeding Brute Animals out of pure charity.

Read the text related to this print in Picart’s fourth volume in English, beginning on page 1.

“Hindoos in various attitudes of Penance under the great Banian Tree of India”


Copperplate engraving on paper
From an English copy of Thomas Maurice (1754–1824), Indian Antiquities, vol. 5 (London: printed by H. L. Galabin, sold by John White, 1800).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection

“Of the Creation of the Worlds”


Copperplate engraving on paper
From an English copy of John Zephaniah Holwell (1711–1798), Interesting Historical Events Relative to the Provinces of Bengal, part 2 (London: printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, 1766–71). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1170

The British East India Company official John Holwell claimed that the second volume of his Interesting Historical Events was a translation of an ancient Indian text, “Bramah’s Chartah Bhade.” This text has not been located. It is possible that Holwell was working from a text no longer extant, that he combined texts or oral histories, or that he simply invented a new work.

This print merges, and perhaps confuses, different acts of creation related to the Hindu god Vishnu. In the upper register stands the third of Vishnu’s ten avatars, the boar Varaha, who was sent to rescue the earth from a demon in the cosmic ocean. To his left is likely an abstraction of Vishnu’s second avatar, the turtle Kurma, who here stabilizes a snake to balance the earth. This refers to a story in which the gods (asuras) and demons (rakshas) wrap the snake Vasuki around the mountain Mandara to churn the ocean. This action elicited various magical matter, such as the elixir of immortality, amrita. Holwell, however, interprets Vishnu’s boar and turtle avatar as “the preserver,” who was “transformed into a mighty boar, emblematically signifying the strength of God in the act of creation. The tortoise mystically denotes the stability and permanency of the foundation of the earth, and the snake the wisdom by which it is supported.”

Read more from Holwell’s Interesting Historical Events.

“Sculpture in a Subtaraneous Hindoo Temple at Cambay”


Hand-colored engraving with etching on paper
From an English copy of James Forbes, Oriental Memoirs, vol. 2 (London: printed by Richard Bentley, 1834).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E003

This hand-colored engraving is based on a drawing by the British East India Company official James Forbes, who was also an amateur artist and writer. It depicts the “celebrated statue” of Parshva, one of the twenty-four Jain masters known as tirthankaras, or “ford-builders” (across the ocean of suffering). Forbes drew this image by candlelight in a “subterraneous temple” in Gujarat and published it in his Oriental Memoirs (1812).

“Buddha; or the Ninth Avatar…”

Hand-colored engraving with etching on paper
From an English copy of Thomas Maurice (1754–1824), The History of Hindostan, vol. 2 (London: printed by H. L. Galabin, 1798).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E004

In this print, Gautama Buddha, the fifth-century BCE founder of Buddhism, is depicted as the ninth of the Hindu deity Vishnu’s ten avatars that made intercessions on earth. The Reverend Thomas Maurice interprets this Buddha as a reformer of Hindu ritual sacrifices. Maurice included this print, along with the other avatars, in The History of Hindostan, in which he sought to understand the religions of India while aligning them with Christianity. He, along with many early modern scholars, struggled with the relationship between Buddhist and Hindu rituals, texts, deities, and holy men.

Read a portion of The History of Hindostan related to this print.

“Missionary influence or how to make converts”


Hand-colored aquatint with etching on paper
From an English copy of Quiz, pseud., The grand master; or, Adventures of Qui Hi? In Hindostan (London: printed by T. Tegg, 1816).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1053

“A Malabar Shewing tricks with Serpents”


Copperplate engraving on paper
From an English copy of Johannes Nieuhof (1618–1672), “Remarkable Voyages & Travels… of the West and East Indies,”in A Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. 2 (London: printed by Awnsham and John Churchill, 1732).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E429

“Dancing Serpents”


Hand-colored engraving with etching on paper
From an English copy of John Platts (1775–1837), The Manners and Customs of All Nations (London: Fisher, Son & Co., 1827).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1104

“The Charak Puja”


Lithograph on paper
From an English copy of Fanny Parks, Wanderings of a pilgrim, in search of the picturesque (London: Pelham Richardson, 1850). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E468

In 1822, the British travel writer and artist Fanny Parks traveled to India with her husband Charles, an East India Company civil servant. They lived first in Calcutta and then moved to Allahabad. Throughout her extensive travels in India, Parks wrote and sketched fastidiously, fueled by an avid curiosity that at times mixed with “disgust” at the scenes she witnessed. The ceremony of charak puja, in which devotees were lifted by hooks threaded through their backs, elicited such a response. Read Parks’ description of the scene, which she acknowledged both stimulated her interest and made her “sick.”

“The Churuk Puja or Swinging Ceremony”


Steel engraving with etching on paper
From an English copy of Edward Henry Nolan (act. mid–19th century), The Illustrated History of the British Empire in India and the East, from the earliest times to the suppression of the Sepoy Mutiny in 1859, vol. 1 (London: Virtue & Co, ca. 1860).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection

The historian Edward Henry Nolan published his Illustrated History of the British Empire in India just after the Indian Rebellion of 1857–58, which led to the dissolution of the British East India Company and left India under the rule of the British crown, called the Raj, until 1947. In the section that discusses charak puja, Nolan critiques Christian missionary writings that were widely assumed to have instigated the rebellion. In particular, he weighed the Christian missionaries’ impulse to suppress what they interpreted as “abominations,” such as the “swinging ceremony,” with the colonial government’s political need to respect the religious customs of the populace.


Read a section of Nolan’s Illustrated History.

“Hindoo devottees of the Gosannee & Jetty tribes”


Engraving with etching on paper
From an English copy of James Forbes, Oriental Memoirs, vol. 2 (London: Richard Bentley, 1834).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E752

“The Fakir Praoun Poury”


Hand-colored etching with aquatint on paper
From an English copy of Frederic Schoberl (1775–1853), The World in Miniature: Hindoostan, vol. 2 (London: published for R. Ackermann, 1822). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E974

In 1792, Jonathan Duncan, the British East India Company resident at Benares (Varanasi), interviewed two renowned “fakeers” and employed an Indian artist to draw them “from the life.” Duncan published his “Account of Two Fakeers” in Asiatic Researches 5 (1799). One of his interviewees, Puran Puri, fascinated Duncan with tales of his travels, his choice of penance (arms held upright for years on end, or urdhvabahu), and his espionage for the Company. Puran Puri’s image was reprinted in numerous publications, such as this print from 1822. View another iteration in the Yoga exhibition that was published in the Encyclopedia Londinensis (1811), as well as its descriptive text,.

“The Burning System Illustrated”


Hand-colored aquatint with etching on paper
From an English copy of Quiz, pseud., The grand master; or, Adventures of Qui Hi? In Hindostan (London: printed by Thomas Tegg, 1816).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1052

“Mahadeva and Parvati, The Ganges descends from Siva’s head on to the Himalayas and thence flows through the cow’s mouth. Parvati holds a cup of Ambrosia.”


Hand-colored lithograph on paper
From an English copy of Edward Moor (1771–1848), The Hindu Pantheon, edited by W. O. Simpson (Madras: J. Higginbotham, 1864).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E006

The East India Company official Edward Moor based the illustrative engravings in his Hindu Pantheon (1810) on Indian works of art in his collection. This hand-colored lithograph of the Hindu deities Shiva, also known as Mahadeva or the Great God, and his wife Parvati is from the third edition of Moor’s publication (1864). It is based on a painting from Jaipur that is now at the British Museum.

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"Varie classi di Fachiri” (Various types of Fakirs)


Hand-colored aquatint with etching on paper
From an Italian copy of Giulio Ferrario (1767–1847), Il costume antico e moderno (Antique and modern costume) (Milano: Giulio Ferrario, 1829).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E629

"Festa del fuoce in onore di Darma-Ragia” (Festival of fire in honor of Dharma-Raja)


Hand-colored aquatint with etching on paper
From an Italian copy of Giulio Ferrario (1767–1847), Il costume antico e moderno (Antique and modern costume) (Milan: Dottor Giulio Ferrario, 1815).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E349

“La fete de la dédicace du temple appellée Tirounal”
(The festival of the dedication to the temple called Tirounal)


Hand-colored aquatint with etching on paper
From a French copy of Giulio Ferrario (1767–1847), Le costume ancien et modern (Antique and modern costume) (Milan: De l’imprimerie de l’editeur, 1827).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E628

The Italian publisher Dr. Giulio Ferrario relied on publications by the artist Balthazar Solvyns as one of his main sources on India. In the late eighteenth century, Solvyns lived in Calcutta. He published a lengthy tome of 250 etchings “descriptive of the manners, customs, character, dress and religious ceremonies of the Hindoos” in 1799, as well as a four-volume French edition, Les Hindoûs, between 1808 and 1812. Solvyns described this etching as the festival of Ruth-Jatrah (Ratha-Yatra), which involved “the riding of the Gods in their Carriage, drawn by thousands of fanatics, some of whom throw themselves under the cart, with the persuasion that their death will secure them immediate bliss in heaven.”

Iconographic Encyclopedia


Steel plate engraving with etching on paper
From an English copy of Johann Georg Heck (d. 1857), Iconographic encyclopædia of science, literature, and art, vol. 4 (New York: published by Rudolph Peter Garrigue, 1852).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E200

“A Hindoo Mendicant Pilgrim”


Wood engraving with letterpress on paper
From Harper’s Weekly (March 4, 1876).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E250

This engraving and text (transcribed below) from the American journal Harper’s Weekly discusses the pilgrimage to the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges Rivers, near the city of Allahabad. In a secular, if not cynical, tone, the author draws attention to the class distinctions between pilgrims and to the potential economic rewards of selling Ganges water in distant locales.

“Not far eastward of the city of Allahabad lies the ‘Plain of Almsgiving,’ at the confluence of the Jumna and the Ganges, which from remote ages has been regarded by the Hindoos as a most sacred spot. Thither, in ancient times, kings and princes repaired to distribute alms, and to this day it is visited by thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India, to bathe in the sacred waters. These pilgrims generally wear a uniform costume, made of coarse linen, to prevent the rich from being distinguished from the poor. The latter are more numerous than the first, as many of the wealthy pay to have the pilgrimage performed for them, as the richer class of Mahommedans make the long and tedious journey to Mecca by proxy. One class of pilgrims visit Allahabad to obtain the sacred water of the Ganges, which they sell in remote villages. This water, in small vials, marked with the seal of the Brahmins of Prayaga, is sold at a very high price, to be used for the lustrations recommended at certain periods by the sacred writings.”

“Ein Sadhu, Un sadhu, A Sadhu, Un Sadhù”


Screened photogravure on paper
In an English copy of Martin Hürlimann (1897–1984), India: the landscape, the monuments and the people (New York: B. Westermann Co., Inc., ca. 1928).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection

Willie’s Rope Trick


Colored offset lithograph on paper
Cover of the Saturday Evening Post (June 26, 1943).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1452

“Varie foggie di vestire degli Indiani”
(Various fashions of Indian dress)


Hand-colored engraving with etching on paper
From an Italian copy of Giulio Ferrario (1767–1847), Il costume antico e moderno (Antique and modern costume) (Palermo: Dottor Giulio Ferrario, 1833).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1274

“Nârâyana ou Vatapatrakai”


Hand-colored lithograph on paper
From or after a French copy of J. J. Chabrelie, A. Géringer, Eugène Burnouf, and Eugène Jacquet, L’Inde Francaise (French India) (Paris: Chabrelie, 1827–35).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E079

In this hand-colored lithograph, the Hindu deity Vishnu manifests cosmological time in his all-pervading form of Narayana or Vatapatrasai, literally, “one who sleeps on water or a leaf.” From the navel of a bejeweled child, who suckles his toe while afloat on a leaf in the cosmic ocean, the four-headed Hindu deity Brahma ascends on a lotus flower to create, and re-create, the world in cyclical time. The image refers to the sage Markandeya, who longed to know the secrets of existence and became lost in Vishnu’s cosmic ocean. At last, he came upon the child Narayana, crawled into his mouth, and witnessed the continuous creation and dissolution of the world.

“Le dieu Siva au sein de sa famille” (The god Shiva and his family)


Chromolithograph and letterpress on coated paper
From a set of twelve French trading cards, Histoire de L’ Inde (History of India) (Produits Liebig “Ameliorant la cuisine,” 1939).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E207

The designer of this chromolithograph likely used a painting or print as a model, such as this painting, in the Freer’s collection, of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati from the Punjab Hills.

“Îshâna ou Shiva” (Shiva)


Hand-colored lithograph on paper
From or after a French copy of J. J. Chabrelie, A. Géringer, Eugène Burnouf, and Eugène Jacquet, L’Inde Francaise (French India), vol. 2 (Paris: Chabrelie, 1835).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E563

“Fête du Feu” (Festival of Fire)


Copperplate engraving with etching on paper
In a French copy of Pierre Sonnerat, Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine (Voyage to the Indies and China), vol. 1 (Paris: L’auteur, 1782).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection

“Chahgaramousen”


Hand-colored lithograph on paper
From a French copy of J. J. Chabrelie, A. Géringer, Eugène Burnouf, and Eugène Jacquet, L’Inde Francaise (French India), vol. 2 (Paris: Chabrelie, 1835).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E546

“College de l’évêque á Calcutta… Devotions des Hindous” (Bishop’s College Calcutta and Hindu Devotions)


Engraving with etching on paper
From a French copy of Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville (1790–1842), Voyage pittoresque autour du monde (Picturesque journey around the world) (Paris: Tenré, 1834).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1199

“Temple de Jaggernaut… Dévotions des Hindous” (Jagannath Temple and Hindu Devotions)


Engraving with etching on paper
From a French copy of Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville (1790–1842), Voyage pittoresque autour du monde (Picturesque journey around the world) (Paris: Tenré, 1834).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1198

Shiva as a sadhu


Chromolithograph on coated paper (playing card wrapper)
Probably from the manufacturer Antoine van Genechten in Turnhout, Belgium, ca. 1900.
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E059

The Bengali text on this page refers to aspects of the Hindu god Shiva—his liberation, propriety or prestige, and inebriation—as well as to the playing cards that it packaged.

“Bedel en Slacht Papen Afgoden der Mexicane” (Mendicants, Sacrifices, Priests, and the Deities of Mexicans)


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a Dutch copy of Simon de Vries (ca. 1580–1629), Curieuse Aenmerckingen der byzondereste Oost en West Indische… dingen (Curious Remarks on the most exceptional East and West Indian… matters), vol. 3 (Utrecht: Johannes Ribbius, 1682).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E941

A visual compendium of global religious practice, Simon de Vries’ seventeenth-century Dutch engraving juxtaposes and disparages spectacular acts of self-mortification, religious figures and practices, and deities from non-European cultures. As detailed in the text on the print, it includes Japanese mendicants, lepers, muck-eaters, acts of self-immolation, the bathing of “Brahmins and fakirs,” Mexican human sacrifice and deities, and a Turkish dervish.

Jagannatha


Copperplate engraving on paper
From a Dutch edition of Wooter Schouten (1638–1704), Resitogt naar en door Oostïndïen (Voyages to the East Indies) (Utrecht: J. J. van Poolsum…, and Amsterdam: M. de Bruyn, 1775).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E721

“Mendicanti Vagabondi, Altri Mendicanti”
(Other vagrants, other beggars)


Engraving with etching on paper
From an Italian copy after Jean Francois de la Harpe (1739–1803), Compendio della storia generale de’ viaggi opera di M. de La Harpe (Compendium of the general history of travel of M. de la Harpe), vol. 23 (Venezia: printed by Vincenzo Formaleoni, 1782).
Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1479