{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O70189"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70189/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT0586/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT0586/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AT0586","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MT2117","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O70189/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O70189","accessionNumber":"IM.96-1927","objectType":"Book rest","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This book-rest was shown at the 1903 exhibition Indian Art at Delhi. It is made of bowenite, a hard variety of serpentine which comes from Bhera, in present-day Punjab, Pakistan, where it was carved. The gold-overlaid steel frame was made for it in Sialkot. The author of the exhibition catalogue, Sir George Watt, noted that the book-rest attracted great attention from visitors to the exhibition. Its maker was named as Mahomed Amin (of Bhera), and he was awarded a Second Prize in the category of lapidary work and a silver medal. The book-rest was bought from the exhibition by Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India and bequeathed to the V&A with other objects from his collection in 1927.","physicalDescription":"A book rest of green bowenite in a frame of gold overlaid steel.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Mahomed Amin","id":"AUTH342093"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":"Mahomed Amin was named as the craftsman in the 1903 Delhi Durbar exhibition catalogue. However, in 1993 craftsmen in the city claimed that he was simply the seller, not the person who made the piece, and it was their ancestors who had done the work. See Has-Saan Gardezi (research and text), Crafts of the Punjab vol. III, Bhera, Punjab Small Industries Corporation, 1993, 116 note 2."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bowenite","id":"x39878"},{"text":"steel","id":"AAT133751"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bowenite, gold-overlaid steel","categories":[{"text":"Books","id":"THES48986"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AT0586","2020MT2117"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES370919"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Book rest","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"bhera","id":"x46341"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"The steel frame with its gold overlaid decoration was made in Sialkot. In 1903, when Bhera lapidary work was exhibited in Delhi at the Durbar Exhibition of 1903, the city was regarded as a leading stone craft centre in the subcontinent, comparable with other renowned centres such as Delhi, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Bombay and Jalalpur. By 1993, when a survey of crafts of Bhera was published, the industry had  disappeared."}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c. 1900","earliest":"1895-01-01","latest":"1904-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Lord Curzon of Kedleston, KG, GCSI, GCIE, DCL","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"17 3/8","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"7 3/8","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"1927","earliest":"1927-01-01","latest":"1927-12-31"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"30","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"10/2/17","earliest":"2017-02-10","latest":"2017-02-10"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"33.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"10/2/16","earliest":"2016-02-10","latest":"2016-02-10"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"19","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"10/2/17","earliest":"2017-02-10","latest":"2017-02-10"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought from the Delhi Durbar exhibition in 1903 by Lord Curzon. Illustrated in Sir George Watt, Indian Art at Delhi 1903, fig. 74 no. 7; see also pp. 72, 78.\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Book rest, the stone carved in Bhera with a frame made for it in Sialkot, c. 1900.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"BOOK REST \r\nBowenite, carved; the steel frame overlaid with gold  \r\nBhera and Sialkot\r\nMahomed Amin\r\nc. 1902\r\nIM.96-1927\r\nBequeathed by Lord Curzon of Kedleston, KG, GCSI, GCIE, DCL\r\n\r\nThis was probably made specifically for the spectacular 1903 exhibition held in Delhi to mark the succession of the British King and Queen, Edward VII and Alexandra, as Emperor and Empress of India. Bowenite, a variety of serpentine, comes from Bhera in present-day Pakistan, where the book rest was carved. The frame was made by craftsmen in Sialkot, a renowned centre for embellishing steel with gold. Mahomed Amin won a silver medal for his work which Curzon, Viceroy of India and organiser of the exhibition, bought.\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["IM.96-1927"],"accessionNumberNum":"96","accessionNumberPrefix":"IM","accessionYear":1927,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017JX5502"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-25","recordCreationDate":"2002-11-14","availableToBook":true}}