O C GANGOLY ( GANGOLY, Ordhendra Coomar) · 1926

Masterpieces of Rajput Painting

USD 7,700

Selected, Annotated and Described in Relation to Original Hindi Texts from Religious Literature

Calcutta: Manager, “Rupam,” 6 Old Post Office Street, 1926. Monumental folio. 116 pages. Edition strictly limited to 210 copies; this is copy no. 116. Complete with all 28 colour plates and 24 hand-made photogravures.

A remarkably well-preserved and complete example of one of the most ambitious Indian art publications of the early twentieth century. Conceived almost as a portfolio of paintings, its enormous sheets provide generous settings for the mounted colour plates and finely produced photogravures. Gangoly reconnects Rajput painting with its literary, devotional and musical sources, making the work both a visual monument and an important document in the formation of Indian art history.

A richly illustrated study of Gangoly’s book, its making, intellectual context, plates, rarity and condition.

GANGOLY, Ordhendra Coomar (ed).Masterpieces of Rajput Painting: Selected, Annotated, and Described in Relation to Original Hindi Texts from Religious Literature, with an Introduction. Calcutta: Rupam, 1926.

Description:

First edition. Limited edition copy no. 116 of 210 copies. Large folio size, approximately 18.1 x 13.4 inches (46 x 34 cm). Unbound leaves and plates as issued, housed in the publisher’s original cloth-backed hardbound portfolio box. Text comprises 116 pages of critical annotations. Lavishly illustrated with 28 tipped-in color plates and 24 hand-made photogravures, each protected by descriptive caption sheets.

Catalog Note:

A foundational masterpiece of early 20th-century art scholarship, this monumental portfolio represents one of the earliest and most rigorous systematic studies of the Pahari and Rajasthani miniature painting traditions. Compiled and edited by Professor O. C. Gangoly (1881–1974)—a pioneering connoisseur and a co-founder of the renowned Indian Society of Oriental Art—the work was designed to elevate regional Hindu devotional art onto the global academic stage. Reviewed upon release by legendary orientalist Hermann Goetz, this portfolio carefully matches exquisite visual works with corresponding classical Hindi religious texts and poetry.

Printed in an incredibly restricted print run, the plates display exceptional, vivid graphic clarity. Complete, unbroken copies featuring all tipped-in plates and loose text sheets remaining in their original folio boxes are exceptionally scarce on the global market.

Edition

FIRST EDITION. Monumental folio. One of 210 copies; this copy no. 116

Condition

Remarkably well preserved. The sheets remain exceptionally attractive, with expected natural age-related tonal variation, occasional spotting and somewhat greater toning to an opening leaf. Housed in a later custom-made blue cloth protective portfolio, sympathetically constructed to the dimensions of the book; the case is modern and is not part of the original 1926 issue.

Status

Available