The system of the Museum is complete in intention as are its
appointments in design. At present there are some fifteen thousand
objects of art, “surprising in themselves” as, Count Smaltork would say,
a complete exposition of the arts, from enamels to pottery and from
brassware to stone-carving, of the State of Jeypore. They are compared
with similar arts of other lands. Thus a Damio’s sword--a gem of
lacquer-plaited silk and stud-work--flanks the _tulwars_ of Marwar and
the _jezails_ of Tonk; and reproductions of Persian and Russian
brasswork stand side by side with the handicrafts of the pupils of the
Jeypore School of Art. A photograph of His Highness the present Maharaja
is set among the arms, which are the most prominent features of the
first or metal-room. As the villagers enter, they salaam reverently to
the photo, and then move on slowly, with an evidently intelligent
interest in what they see. Ruskin could describe the scene
admirably--pointing out how reverence must precede the study of art,
and how it is good for Englishmen and Rajputs alike to bow on occasion
before Gessler’s cap. They thumb the revolving cases of cloths do these
rustics, and artlessly try to feel the texture through the protecting
glass. The main object of the Museum is avowedly provincial--to show the
craftsman of Jeypore the best that his predecessors could do, and to
show him what foreign artists have done. In time--but the Curator of the
Museum has many schemes which will assuredly bear fruit in time, and it
would be unfair to divulge them. Let those who doubt the thoroughness of
a Museum under one man’s control, built, filled, and endowed with royal
generosity--an institution perfectly independent of the Government of
India--go and exhaustively visit Dr. Hendley’s charge at Jeypore. Like
the man who made the building, he refuses to talk, and so the greater
part of the work that he has in hand must be guessed at.
At one point, indeed, the Curator was taken off his guard. A huge map of
the kingdom showed in green the portions that had been brought under
irrigation, while blue circles marked the towns that owned dispensaries.
“I want to bring every man in the State within twenty miles of a
dispensary, and I’ve nearly done it,” said he. Then he checked himself,
and went off to food-grains in little bottles as being neutral and
colourless things. Envy is forced to admit that the arrangement of the
Museum--far too important a matter to be explained offhand--is
Continental in its character, and has a definite end and bearing--a
trifle omitted by many institutions other than Museums. But--in fine,
what can one say of a collection whose very labels are gilt-edged!
Shameful extravagance? Nothing of the kind--only finish, perfectly in
keeping with the rest of the fittings--a finish that we in _kutcha_
India have failed to catch. That is all!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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