Elliot Marbles and Other Sculpture from the Central Museum Madras: Group 26

May–June 1858

Not on view

In 1853 the newly founded Government Central Museum in Madras acquired a collection of notable marble sculptures that the Scottish Orientalist Walter Elliot had excavated from the Buddhist stupa at Amaravati in south India in 1845. A contemporary author referred to them as the "Elliot marbles," linking them to the recently discovered "Elgin marbles" from ancient Greece. The guardian lion, central column section, and stepped base date from the second century, and the relief of the standing bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara dates from the eighth century. Tripe photographed them where they had been left haphazardly on the grounds of the museum, their display showing no understanding of their original location or arrangement.

Artwork Details

Title: Elliot Marbles and Other Sculpture from the Central Museum Madras: Group 26
Artist: Linnaeus Tripe (British, Devonport (Plymouth Dock) 1822–1902 Devonport)
Date: May–June 1858
Medium: Albumen silver print from dry collodion on glass negative
Dimensions: Image: 23.4 x 29.9 cm (9 3/16 x 11 3/4 in.)
Mount: 33.1 x 45 cm (13 1/16 x 17 11/16 in.)
Mat: 18 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (47 × 57.1 cm)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1991
Object Number: 1991.1152
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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The Outer Prakarum, or Corridor Around the Temple of the God Sundareshawara, Linnaeus Tripe British, Albumen silver print from dry collodion on glass negative — The Outer Prakarum, or Corridor Around the Temple of the God Sundareshawara
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Photographic Views in Madura, Part I, Linnaeus Tripe British, Albumen silver prints from paper negatives — Photographic Views in Madura, Part I
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Author Martin Norman
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