Image of the Week: The India Court
The Indian Court at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Lithograph print published by Dickinson Brothers, art by Joseph Nash. Image (C) The trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum
In tracing the history of exhibition design in India, I found this image in the V&A archives. Arguably the first “trade fair” ever to exhibit the work of Indian craftsmen, artists and makers in an international setting, the Indian Court at the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations held in the Crystal Palace in 1851, the stuffed elephant, Koh-i-noor diamond et al promoted the idea of Britain as the world’s first global superpower. It raised public interest in India and doubled¹ the visitors to the India Museum in Whitehall. Click on the image to find out more about the print.
¹ The Indian Court. V&A Search The Collections. [online] Available at <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O25439/print-the-indian-court/#>. Accessed December 12, 2010