Portrait of an unnamed Durrānī man
Date
1815
Creator
Unknown, Engraver
After
Robert Melville Grindlay (1786, British) , Artist
Object type
Library reference
RCN38165
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 280mm
width (print): 210mm
width (print): 210mm
Subject
Politics & Government
> Political doctrines
> British Empire
Politics & Government
> Political doctrines
> British colonialism
> Political doctrines
> British Empire
Politics & Government
> Political doctrines
> British colonialism
Content object
Description
Portrait of a man from the Durrānī tribal confederation of Afghanistan and Pakistan, shown full length and carrying weapons. He wears a patterned perahan tied at the waist with a sash, blue trousers, green knitted cap and a grey cloak. Arms include a sword and slingshot. The villager carried a jezail, fitted with a bayonet.
Plate 8 from from Mountstuart Elphinstone's An account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India… (London, 1815), an account of his embassy to the ruler of Afghanistan, Shuja Shah Durrani Khan (1785-1842) in 1808.
Inscribed ‘PL. VIII. A Dooraunee Villager with his Arms. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, Paternoster Row, 1815.’
The accompanying text states that Durrani men dress in similar style: ‘the people about towns, most of those in villages, and all of those shepherds who are in easy circumstances, wear a dress nearly resembling that of Persia; which though not very convenient, is remarkably decorous, and with the addition of a beard, gives an appearance of gravity and respectability to the lowest of the common people.’
The author comments that the original artwork for this print was produced by Lieutenant R.M. Grindlay of the Bombay (Mumbai) Establishment’ and that the artist ‘drew them from Afghauns just arrived from their own country.’ These originals, now in the British Library, were made by Grindlay in Poona (Pune), in 1813.
Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779–1859), East India Company administrator from 1776, known for his periods as Resident at Poona and Governor of Bombay in the 1810s and 1820s, and involvement in the Anglo-Maratha wars.
Plate 8 from from Mountstuart Elphinstone's An account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India… (London, 1815), an account of his embassy to the ruler of Afghanistan, Shuja Shah Durrani Khan (1785-1842) in 1808.
Inscribed ‘PL. VIII. A Dooraunee Villager with his Arms. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, Paternoster Row, 1815.’
The accompanying text states that Durrani men dress in similar style: ‘the people about towns, most of those in villages, and all of those shepherds who are in easy circumstances, wear a dress nearly resembling that of Persia; which though not very convenient, is remarkably decorous, and with the addition of a beard, gives an appearance of gravity and respectability to the lowest of the common people.’
The author comments that the original artwork for this print was produced by Lieutenant R.M. Grindlay of the Bombay (Mumbai) Establishment’ and that the artist ‘drew them from Afghauns just arrived from their own country.’ These originals, now in the British Library, were made by Grindlay in Poona (Pune), in 1813.
Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779–1859), East India Company administrator from 1776, known for his periods as Resident at Poona and Governor of Bombay in the 1810s and 1820s, and involvement in the Anglo-Maratha wars.
Associated place