Painting of the Qutb Minar

Paintings on ivory roundels were popular in Europe during the eighteenth century, and this form was brought to India through the increased presence of the British East India Company. Though initially the subject matter of these small plaques was portraits of individuals, as more visitors came to India seeking souvenirs, subject matter expanded to include famous buildings and vistas. This ivory miniature depicts the Qutb Minar in Delhi, India, a tower built as a minaret for an adjacent mosque in the thirteenth century. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, parts of the complex lay in ruins, and this site was of great interest to English painters of the Picturesque and Romantic period, seeking subjects that glorified past empires.

Indian artists in the nineteenth century produced works of art for English visitors, and combined the shape of the ivory roundel with the architectural sites that were most visited in India. This type of object would have been purchased as a souvenir and taken back to England. In some cases, such roundels were set into small boxes as exterior decoration, or mounted in pieces of jewelry, or framed as is the case with the present example.