3-034-647 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition at South Kensington: the Indian Court, 1871. 'The most valuable portion of the Indian wares here presented to view, for the purpose of instruction in the arts and manufactures, must be the specimens of exquisite ornamental design, and of delicate, yet strong and substantial, workmanship in the textile fabrics...there is...a splendid collection of embroidered velvets, satins, and gossamer muslins; of kincobs, gleaming with silver and gold; of cloths in which the brightest colours of nature, the richest hues of floral blossom, and rays of the most lustrous gems are disposed in the most graceful shapes that fancy can devise. Next in attraction stand the inlaid works of ivory, fine woods, metals, and precious stones: the engraved steel weapons and tools; the carvings and mouldings of different materials, the plate, the porcelain...Miniature portraits and landscapes, water-colour drawings, and photographs are to be found also in the Indian Court. Few candid and thoughtful persons will look at its manifold contents without forming a better opinion than they had before of the talents of our Asiatic fellow-subjects, and feeling an increased desire to promote their welfare'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.