Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection

(from 1st Oct 2013 until 5th Jan 2014)

Explore the recent acquisition of a rich and unusual collection of Indian paintings and manuscript pages.

Detail of Noblemen in durbar, Rajasthan, 18th century (Museum no: EA2012.225)

Introduction

The Museum has recently been given a rich and unusual collection of Indian paintings, drawings and manuscript pages dating from the 15th to 19th centuries. The collection was formed over many years by Simon Digby (1932-2010), a distinguished historian of India and a former Ashmolean curator in the 1970s. Born in India as a child of the Raj, Simon Digby later spent long periods there in study and travel. He was also a lifelong frequenter of auction houses and antique dealers, and he assembled notable collections of Indian metalwork and sculpture.

The Digby paintings collection includes illustrated manuscript pages and other works from the courts of Rajasthan, Central India, the Punjab Hills and the Deccan, as well as from the Jain monasteries of Western India. More unusually, folk and bazaar paintings from those regions are also well represented. Although less refined in style, such works can at their best be vigorously expressive in their bold simplifications of line and colour.

This initial selection from the extensive Digby Collection mainly includes paintings in Rajput court styles and folk paintings from Western India.

Ganesha with his wives and attendants (EA2012.217) Ganesha with his wives and attendants (EA2012.217)

Eastern Art Online presents an online version of the exhibition Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection on display in the Ashmolean’s Eastern Art Paintings gallery. It enables visitors to browse and search all exhibition objects and their high-quality zoomable images.

Eastern Art Paintings Gallery -  Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection, east wall. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Eastern Art Paintings Gallery - Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection, east wall. Eastern Art Paintings Gallery -  Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection exhibition case. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Eastern Art Paintings Gallery - Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection exhibition case. Eastern Art Paintings Gallery -  Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection, west wall. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Eastern Art Paintings Gallery - Indian Paintings from the Simon Digby Collection, west wall.
Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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