DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1401#0372
318
THE ILLUSTRATED EXHIBITOR.
0f goid_and gazing upon the simple instrument and
the still simpler people by whom they were produced—
for models of the workers themselves are here—we are
transported to a strange country, and carried back to the
infancy of time. Poor, half-clad, rice-fed people—igno-
rant in the world's estimate, yet wise in all that is neces-
TTJZlUIIJLI/JiW/'/- \V£^
PERFORATED STONE SCREEN.—NORTHERN INDIA.
powerful; miserable, yet
idolators, yet fervent wor-
sary to life; helpless, yet
content; enslaved, yet free :
shippers of good; with the tyranny of caste about your
necks as a yoke of iron, and yet ignorant of its galling
weight—how nobly do ye not appear compared with some
whose highest boast is liberty and the entire equality of
man!
"We pass from the main avenue into the Indian col-
lection, and examine thoughtfully the products of the Em-
pire in the East. What do they tell us ? Those jewels,
that rich display of mineral and vegetable produce, those
shawls and carpets in which the harmony of colours is so
admirably represented; filagree work in silver and gold,
brocaded stuffs, curiously executed carvings, rude models
of machinery, musical instruments, arms, elephant trap-
pings, naval architecture—how suggestive they all are,
and what stories they tell. Here are gathered together
the trophies of ancient civilisation and arts, marvellously
carried down to our own time. Here may be studied the
industrial habits of nations preserved through centuries
without change or progress, yet still wonderful and mag-
nificent in the eyes of modern labour. Look at those
alabaster chairs, how regal they appear, how fitly they
represent a country where many dynasties conquered and
flourished and were overcome before the British sway .was
established over its dusky populations. Nearly everything
in that collection which is the work of man's hand indi-
cates a vast expenditure of time for its production and a
great display of taste. Yet it is nearly all ornamental
rather thaa useful in its character. Whenever the really
useful arts appear rudeness of material and design are
visible. A warlike weapon will be finished off in the most
elaboflate style^ yet a pair of scissors be manufactured in a
manner worthy of the South Sea Islanders. The East
India Company begin their rule of India as if it were a
new country. The evidences of barbaric pomp, the State
umbrellas, the cloth of gold, and robes decorated with
pearls and diamonds, concern not them. These belono-10
the natives, to the traditions of the past, and to industries
which have been bequeathed from age to age as an heir-
loom. Our part of the collection is the raw produce__the
mineral, vegetable, and animal treasures undiscovered and
unused till our commerce and the wants of our manufac-
tures sought them out. Resting upon them, we strive to
build on substantial and permanent foundations the struc-
ture of empire and government in India ; at least, that is
the lesson which the Exhibition seems to teach, and the
question which each visitor asks himself as he surveys
that most interesting collection is, " Shall we succeed in
our attempt?"
Here the visitor may survey the wondrous products of
countries whose names are romances—Cachmere, Delhi
Benares, Mirzapore, Gyah—consisting of lovely shawls
muslins worked in silk and gold, carpets in whose downy
surfaces the footfall noiselessly sinks, exquisite mats, and
metal manufactures, besides a variety of fragrant woods,
perfumes, gums, cereals, earths, and dried fruits. The
eye catches gilded parasols and glistening canopies, and
flowing tissues of cloth of gold. Let us visit the East
India Company's gorgeous tent. An admiring crowd
blocks up the threshhold. Watching our time, we, too,
catch a glimpse of that marvellous interior. It is a bit
out of the Arabian Nights. The tapestried walls are one
7^JLLiujMJ^^uj^-auirm.
PERFORATED STONE SCREEN.----NORTHERN INDIA.
blaze of glistening metal, wrought, nevertheless, in the
loom. On the ground, heaped up masses of velvet an I
brocade carpets, piled into thrones for Oriental potentates;
#
THE ILLUSTRATED EXHIBITOR.
0f goid_and gazing upon the simple instrument and
the still simpler people by whom they were produced—
for models of the workers themselves are here—we are
transported to a strange country, and carried back to the
infancy of time. Poor, half-clad, rice-fed people—igno-
rant in the world's estimate, yet wise in all that is neces-
TTJZlUIIJLI/JiW/'/- \V£^
PERFORATED STONE SCREEN.—NORTHERN INDIA.
powerful; miserable, yet
idolators, yet fervent wor-
sary to life; helpless, yet
content; enslaved, yet free :
shippers of good; with the tyranny of caste about your
necks as a yoke of iron, and yet ignorant of its galling
weight—how nobly do ye not appear compared with some
whose highest boast is liberty and the entire equality of
man!
"We pass from the main avenue into the Indian col-
lection, and examine thoughtfully the products of the Em-
pire in the East. What do they tell us ? Those jewels,
that rich display of mineral and vegetable produce, those
shawls and carpets in which the harmony of colours is so
admirably represented; filagree work in silver and gold,
brocaded stuffs, curiously executed carvings, rude models
of machinery, musical instruments, arms, elephant trap-
pings, naval architecture—how suggestive they all are,
and what stories they tell. Here are gathered together
the trophies of ancient civilisation and arts, marvellously
carried down to our own time. Here may be studied the
industrial habits of nations preserved through centuries
without change or progress, yet still wonderful and mag-
nificent in the eyes of modern labour. Look at those
alabaster chairs, how regal they appear, how fitly they
represent a country where many dynasties conquered and
flourished and were overcome before the British sway .was
established over its dusky populations. Nearly everything
in that collection which is the work of man's hand indi-
cates a vast expenditure of time for its production and a
great display of taste. Yet it is nearly all ornamental
rather thaa useful in its character. Whenever the really
useful arts appear rudeness of material and design are
visible. A warlike weapon will be finished off in the most
elaboflate style^ yet a pair of scissors be manufactured in a
manner worthy of the South Sea Islanders. The East
India Company begin their rule of India as if it were a
new country. The evidences of barbaric pomp, the State
umbrellas, the cloth of gold, and robes decorated with
pearls and diamonds, concern not them. These belono-10
the natives, to the traditions of the past, and to industries
which have been bequeathed from age to age as an heir-
loom. Our part of the collection is the raw produce__the
mineral, vegetable, and animal treasures undiscovered and
unused till our commerce and the wants of our manufac-
tures sought them out. Resting upon them, we strive to
build on substantial and permanent foundations the struc-
ture of empire and government in India ; at least, that is
the lesson which the Exhibition seems to teach, and the
question which each visitor asks himself as he surveys
that most interesting collection is, " Shall we succeed in
our attempt?"
Here the visitor may survey the wondrous products of
countries whose names are romances—Cachmere, Delhi
Benares, Mirzapore, Gyah—consisting of lovely shawls
muslins worked in silk and gold, carpets in whose downy
surfaces the footfall noiselessly sinks, exquisite mats, and
metal manufactures, besides a variety of fragrant woods,
perfumes, gums, cereals, earths, and dried fruits. The
eye catches gilded parasols and glistening canopies, and
flowing tissues of cloth of gold. Let us visit the East
India Company's gorgeous tent. An admiring crowd
blocks up the threshhold. Watching our time, we, too,
catch a glimpse of that marvellous interior. It is a bit
out of the Arabian Nights. The tapestried walls are one
7^JLLiujMJ^^uj^-auirm.
PERFORATED STONE SCREEN.----NORTHERN INDIA.
blaze of glistening metal, wrought, nevertheless, in the
loom. On the ground, heaped up masses of velvet an I
brocade carpets, piled into thrones for Oriental potentates;
#