Collection consists of three sets of silver gelatin black and white photographs. The first is a bound volume, titled Photographs of the Paintings in the Razam-Nameh at The Palace, Jaipur, India, prepared by Alban G. Widgery, containing 105 photographs of paintings depicting scenes from the Razmnama, a Persian translation and abridgement of the Mahabharata, including labels. Widgery obtained the photographs from the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, which holds the original Razmnama illuminated manuscript, in Jaipur, India before 1924. The volume is bound inside a cover originally belonging to Plants of the Falkland Islands.
The second is a larger set of 148 photographs of Razmnama/Mahabharata scenes. These are copy prints made in the 1970s by Freer Gallery of Art staff of photographs from the volume assembled by Widgery, including additional images that are not in the volume.
The third is a set of 154 photographs of paintings depicting scenes from the Ramayana from the collection of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, which gave the photographs to the Freer Gallery of Art in the early 1970s.
Arrangement:
Arranged by format, thereunder alphabetically by title, thereunder numerically.
Biographical / Historical:
These photographs document paintings illustrating scenes from the Razmnama, a Persian translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, and the Ramayana. The original paintings Widgery photograph are from the collections of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum in Jaipur, India. Both works were commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar I (1542-1605).
The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, located at The City Palace in Jaipur, India, was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. It preserves and offers access to the palace itself, as well as collections of paintings, textiles, photographs, and archives.
Alban Widgery (1887-1968) was most noted as a professor of philosophy at Duke University, where he served as chair of the Department of Philosophy from 1930-1946. He specialized in the philosophy of religion and took particular interest in India, where he traveled extensively.
Provenance:
Transferred from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Library.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
Citation:
Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Razmnama and Ramayana Photographs, FSA.A2019.07. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
