IDNO

P.44599.ORT

Description

View of the excavations west of the main Buddhist shrine. In the foreground is the lion capital, a statue of Buddha and a woman labourer cleaning Brahmi inscription from a broken Ashokan pillar.

Place

S Asia; India; Uttar Pradesh; Sarnath

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

?Oertel, Frederick Oscar

Collector / Expedition

Oertel, Frederick Oscar

Date

pre 15 March 1905

Collection Name

Oertel Collection

Source

Lechmere-Oertel, Frederick Oscar

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

The envelope which contained the print has been now been numbered C146/. It was formerly located in wooden drawer I.

Date: In 1904 -1905, Fredrick Oertel excavated the area to the west of the main shrine at Sarnath. The prints of the site and sculptures [found in the site and also in the Sarnath Museum] belong to this excavation year. On 15 March 1905, he sent a telegram to John Marshall about the finds depicted in this photograph:
“Found persepolitan capital of column surmounted by 4 lions, excellent preservation. Ht. 71/2, shaft 221/2, total 30 ft above plinth. Discovered round inscribed column 25 inches diamtere 9 lines probably Ashokan character” [Survey archives, New Delhi]. [SG 14/08/2002]

The photographs of the statues from Sarnath in the Indian Museum Calcutta have numbers in red ink on the image. See Bloch’s letter to Oertel [archive reference]. The letter is accompanied by a descriptive list for the sculptures in the photograph.

MAA Exhibition: A reproduction of this print was displayed in Collected Sights in the section Photography and Archaeology with the descriptive label:
“Excavations of the Buddhist site at Sarnath, depicting the lion capital, a statue of the Buddha and a woman labourer cleaning the Ashokan inscription on a Mauryan pillar.” [Sudeshna Guha 26/11/02]

MAA Exhibition: A reproduction of this image is included in the Indus Civilisation Case of World Archaeology exhibitions in the Andrews Gallery, with no caption. [JD 5/10/2014]

Related Archive: File No.55, S.No-1-1905 (ASI archives, New Delhi) mentions that negatives from this excavation were deposited to the Indian Museum, Calcutta.

MAA Exhibition: Image exhibited in 'Another India: Explorations & Expressions of Indigenous South Asia', 8 March 2017 - 22 April 2017. [JD 19/06/2018]

Publication: Image published in Elliott, Mark, 2017. 'Another India: Explorations & Expressions of Indigenous South Asia' (Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Cambridge), p.21 and captioned: "2.15 Excavations at Sarnath,
Sarnath, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 15 March 1905
Oertel Collection, P.44599.ORT." [JD 19/06/2018]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program One. [Sudeshna Guha, 2003]