Indian Art at Delhi 1903: Being the Official Catalogue of the Delhi Exhibition 1902-1903

The volume is a unique work of documentation of nineteenth-century Indian craftsmanship. The text is enriched with graphic representation of rare specimens of Indian artistry. Its usefulness as gaze-tteer and an ethnogra-phical dictionary makes it invaluable for the students engaged in research of the history of craft and industry in India. The volume is reprinted with a scholarly intro-duction by Dr. Narayani Gupta after eighty years of its first publication.

This was first published as a Catalogue and Guide to the Indian Art Exhibition held at Delhi to coincide with the Durbar of 1902-03. Its importance as a valuable book of reference and as a work of scholarship could hardly be appreciated at that time, though the author could visualize its possible future as a simple and practical account of the note-worthy art industries of India. Here, an attempt is made for the first time to associate Indian art-works in a systematic sequence, under certain classes, divisions and sections. The author's aim has primarily been to afford descriptions by which the articles might be severally identified, rather than to furnish traditions and historic details regarding them.