'Shoomoolaganese - a 'Deota Ke Mookan' Bhatgaon, built AD: 1696, built by Poorny Sing, a sewar. In it is a figure of Ganese' - 1857

Watercolour of the 'House of god' at Bhaktapur in Nepal, by Henry Ambrose Oldfield (1822-1871), c. 1850-1863. The image is inscribed: 'Shoomoolaganese - a 'Deota Ke Mookan' Bhatgaon, built AD: 1696, built by Poorny Sing, a sewar. In it is a figure of Ganese'.

Bhaktapur, the 'City of Devotees' is 11 km east of Kathmandu and 10 km north-east of Patan and is the youngest of the three former city-states of the Kathmandu Valley. Bhaktapur was founded in the 9th century and rose to prominence under the Malla dynasty. It remained a valley kingdom until the late 15th century when it became a sovereign state, together with Kathmandu and Patan. All three have similar architecture and were built around Durbar Squares containing Palace and Temple complexes. The artist, Dr Oldfield, was Residency Surgeon at Kathmandu from 1850-1863. After his death his family published, in two volumes, his 'Sketches from Nipal, Historical and Descriptive...' (1880), which described life in the court of the Maharajah Jung Bahadur and also contained descriptions of Buddhist architecture, together with illustrations of the latter from Oldfield's own drawings.

Copyright © The British Library Board