This collection consists of three photographs on 2 disaggregated album pages and 1 loose print: 1. Album page with two mounted salt prints showing Elliot marbles from Amaravati. Album page: 45 x 33 cm.; print 1: 16.7 x 19 cm; print 2: 19.7 x 19 cm. 2. Album page with one mounted albumenized salt print showing Elliot marble stupa relief from Amaravati. Album page: 45 x 33cm.; print: 25.5 x 24 cm. 3. Unmounted albumenized salt print, Facade of the West Side of the Nayakar Durbar Hall, Tanjore. 28 x 37.7 cm.
Biographical / Historical
Linnaeus Tripe (1822-1902) was an official photographer for the British Government, employed to document Southern Indian archaeological remains before they further decayed. He photographed widely in southern India, including Rayakottai (Ryakotta), which was then a British stronghold. Around 1858 Tripe took this image of sculptures from the ruined Buddhist stupa at Amaravati, which was a large monument built approximately 2000 years ago in what is now Andhra Pradesh. The stupa was a mound-like structure made of brick, adorned with bas-relief medallions, paneled friezes made of limestone and freestanding sculpture. As time passed, the stupa fell into disrepair and was eventually buried under rubble. Eventually, the structure was excavated and some of the decorative elements were shipped to the British Museum, London. These pieces were referred to as the 'Elliot marbles' after Walter Elliot, the antiquarian, linguist and member of the Madras Council who recovered them.
Local Numbers
FSA A2017.06
Creator
Tripe, Linnaeus
Place
India
Tanjore (India)
India -- Andhra Pradesh -- Amaravati
Topic
Tombs -- India
Buddhist sculpture -- India -- Amaravati
Amaravati (India) -- Antiquities
Monuments
Custodial History
Gift of Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro, 2001.
Archival Repository
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Photographs
Salted paper prints
Citation
Linnaeus Tripe Photographs of India, FSA A2017.06. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Arrangement
One flat box.
Rights
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Genre/Form
Photographs
Salted paper prints
Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Repository Contact
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
National Museum of Asian Art Archives
Washington, D.C. 20013 AVRreference@si.edu