{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O431929"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O431929/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2022NF4532/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2022NF4532/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2022NF4532","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O431929/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O431929","accessionNumber":"1131-1869","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Pandrethan temple, Srinagar","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"William Simpson (1823 - 1899) was a distinguished watercolourist and war artist. Having established his reputation by documenting the Crimean war in 1854, Day and Sons, the London lithography firm, commissioned him to sketch well-known sites in and around Delhi associated with the Revolt of 1857 by Indians against the rule of the British East India Company. \r\n\r\nSimpson arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1859 and travelled widely. His rapid pencil drawings formed the preparatory studies for his finished watercolours done after his return to London in 1862. His detailed journal, sketches and pictures from India resulted in these highly coloured, evocative, and romantic interpretations of the landscape and architecture.\r\n\r\nSimpson visited the Meruvardhanaswami temple in Pandrethan in Jammu and Kashmir in 1859. A small village, Pandrethan, is situated a mile and a half southeast of Srinagar on the river Jhelum. Pandrethan derives its name from Puranadishthana (meaning old town). The temple was believed to be erected by a minister named Meru between 913 and 921 A.D. It was set in a spring-fed tank, and its plinth is now submerged. \r\n\nThe temple interior has one of the finest surviving temple ceilings in Kashmir. The stone ceiling is elaborately carved in bas-relief figures. It is formed with nine blocks of stone consisting of three intersecting squares - the lower and upper course are each constructed from four diagonally placed lintels, forming square openings that reduce in size, covered with a soffit decorated with a large lotus. ","physicalDescription":"Painting of the Meruvardhanaswami temple at Pandrethan near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. Set in lush wilderness, the small stone block masonry temple in the forefront has a pyramidal roof divided into two portions by an ornamental band. The corner pilasters are surmounted by carved capitals, and the pediments of the porches appear to terminate in a melon-shaped ornament. A fragmentary block from the temple and black snake are visible in the foreground. Two other structures stand in the background amongst the hilly landscape. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Simpson, William RI FRGS","id":"A10511"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on paper","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2022NF4532"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES403505"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Painting","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1865","earliest":"1865-01-01","latest":"1865-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from Messrs Day and Son Ltd (London) in 1869","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"295","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"455","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"<i>Front -</i> Pandrenton Temple, Srinagar, Kashmir. Wm. Simpson 1865. ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"<i>Back -</i> 218. Pandrenton, Cashmere. It is a fine specimen of old Cashmere architecture is almost the remnant of the former Srinugger, a few detached fragments of sculpture being all that is to be see except this temple, which stands among some fine trees in a small tank now full of weeds and snakes. The temple at Martand standing without a roof it required this ruin at Pandrenton to supply the complete design of the temples with that of Pa Yetsh a perfect eaxample of this peculiar style of temple architecture may be formed. No one can look at this beautiful ruin without being reminded of the Gothic, and yet the pyramidical roof is only a slight adaptation from the spires over the shrines of all Hindoo temples. Through the trees the Tukht-i-Solyman is visible. ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"William Simpson (1823 - 1899), born in Glasgow, was a distinguished watercolourist and war artist. Following a seven-year apprenticeship with a specialist lithographic firm, he moved to London in February 1851 and found employment with Day and Sons. Having established his reputation by documenting the Crimean war in 1854, he was commissioned to sketch well-known sites in and around Delhi associated with the Revolt of 1857 against the rule of the British East India Company. \r\n\r\nSimpson arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata) at the end of October 1859 and travelled extensively. Throughout his life, he kept careful diaries, and his hundreds of sketches and pictures form an invaluable record of his travels. He planned to produce four large volumes with approximately 250 plates to be lithographed as illustrations. He spent seven years on the project – three years making preparatory works and the rest in London working his sketches into finished paintings. His life and work in India resulted in these highly coloured, evocative, and romantic interpretations of the landscape and architecture.\r\n\r\nWhile Simpson was away, Day and Son had been drifting into debt. In 1867, before it finally went into liquidation at the end of the year, Simpson was made a company shareholder as part payment for his work. Two years later, his collection of 250 watercolours were sold as bankrupt stock. The V&A purchased 44 original watercolours from Day & Son, Limited (London) in 1869.  ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Painting of the Pandrethan temple, Srinagar, Kashmir, by William Simpson, pencil and watercolour on paper, London, 1865","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Registered File number RF/1869/6716"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1131-1869"],"accessionNumberNum":"1131","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1869,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-26","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":true}}