Untitled [Set of Nine Benaras Prints]

a) George Barnard after James Prinsep
The Man Mundil, or Hindoo Observatory, Benaras
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 8 x 10.25 in (20 x 26.2 cm)
Sheet Size: 8.75 x 11.75 in (22 x 29.5 cm)
With Mount: 13 x 16 in (33 x 40.5 cm)

b) George Barnard after James Prinsep
Munikurnika Ghat. Benaras From the River
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 8 x 10.25 in (20.5 x 26.2 cm)
Sheet Size: 8.75 x 11.25 in (22 x 28.5 cm)
With Mount: 13 x 16 in (33 x 40.5 cm)

c) George Barnard after James Prinsep
Bruhma Ghat
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 8 x 10.25 in (20 x 26.2 cm)
Sheet Size: 8.45 x 11.25 in (21.5 x 28.5 cm)
With Mount: 13 x 16 in (33 x 40.5 cm)

d) L Haghe after James Prinsep
Rajrajeshwuree Ghat. Benaras
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 8 x 10.25 in (20 x 26.2 cm)
Sheet Size: 8.75 x 11.75 in (22 x 29.5 cm)
With Mount: 13 x 16 in (33 x 40.5 cm)

e) J D Harding after James Prinsep
Benares. A Brahmin Placing a Garland on the Holiest Spot in the Sacred City
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 8 x 9.75 in (20 x 24.5 cm)
Sheet Size: 8.25 x 10.45 in (21 x 26.5 cm)
With Mount: 13 x 16 in (33 x 40.5 cm)

f) L Haghe after James Prinsep
Eve of an Eclipse of the Moon. 25th November 1825
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 8 x 10.25 in (20.5 x 26.2 cm)
Sheet Size: 8.75 x 11.75 in (22 x 29.8 cm)
With Mount: 13 x 16 in (33 x 40.5 cm)

g) George Barnard after James Prinsep
Procession of the Tazecas. (During the Moohurrum at the Phatman a Moosulman Burying Ground, Benaras)
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 10.75 x 7 in (27.2 x 17.4 cm)
Sheet Size: 11.25 x 7.75 in (28.4 x 19.6 cm)
With Mount: 16 x 13 in (40.5 x 33 cm)

h) William Walton after James Prinsep
View on the Ganges. From the Phatuk or Gate at the Top of Punchgunga Ghat
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 11.25 x 7 in (28.6 x 17.3 cm)
Sheet Size: 12 x 7.75 in (30.1 x 19.6 cm)
With Mount: 16 x 13 in (40.5 x 33 cm)

i) L Haghe after James Prinsep
A Thakoor Dwaree. Interior of Lala Kashmeeree Muls House, Benaras (Du Penates and Sacra in the Sanctum)
1834
Lithograph on paper
Print Size: 9 x 7 in (23 x 17.5 cm)
Sheet Size: 10 x 8.25 in (25.2 x 21.2 cm)
With Mount: 13 x 16 in (33 x 40.5 cm)

A rare work of lithographs by J D Harding, L Haghe, William Walton, George Barnard, after drawings by James Prinsep. The lithographic plates were printed in London by Hullmandel and Day and Haghe, but the engravings were probably printed in India, engraved by James's brother William and an Indian engraver, Kasheenath.

James Prinsep (1799-1840)
Prinsep was an 'a brilliant architect, palaeographer, and numismatist” (cf. Abbey Travel, 607). If ever there has been an unsung genius, it is James Prinsep. Born in 1799, he had a short life of only forty years, dying in 1840. Despite his diverse interests and significant contributions in various fields, we can confidently declare him as one of the greatest geniuses in human history. Thus, he was at the same time a physicist, a chemist, an anthropologist, a geologist, a meteorologist, a numismatist, an epigraphist, a town planner, a cartographer, and an architect—and one may not have exhausted the list. Actually, his one achievement, that of deciphering the Brahmi script, through which India and the world came to know of that unique figure in world history—Emperor Asoka—would have entitled him to a place alongside those of Champollion and Rawlinson, among the greats of intellectual history. And when one considers that James deciphered not one but two ancient scripts—Brahmi and Kharosthi—through which was revealed the existence of a whole line of Indo-Scythian kings, one stands in awe of the man.

He worked at the mint at Benares from 1820 to 1830, when he moved to Calcutta, where he remained until his death. He was one of the many sons of an indigo merchant, who was himself assaymaster at Benares for many years, where he advised on the construction of the new mint, a church, a bridge, and the improvement of the drainage of the city into the Ganges. He was also instrumental in reforming the system of Indian weights and measures, but his "greatest achievement was to decipher the hitherto unreadable scripts of the most ancient of Indian inscriptions... In 1822 he had applied his talents in draughtsmanship to a thorough survey of Benares... [and] a series of exquisite watercolours of the monuments and festivals of Benares was sent to London in 1829 to be lithographed. These were published in Calcutta and London between 1830 and 1834 as Benares Illustrated" (ODNB).

(Set of nine)

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