{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O73310"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73310/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AJ6543/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AJ6543/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AJ6543","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O73310/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O73310","accessionNumber":"1144-1869","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"A Buddhist Stupa in Manikiala","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 completed the painting of the Buddhist stupa of Manikiala, Punjab, in London in 1863. In his autobiography, Simpson notes – ‘I sketched the monument, and made notes of its details. It had been such a short time in India that I had acquired almost no knowledge of Hindu or Buddhist architecture, and I was perfectly unconscious of any question as to Greek architecture having reached the Punjab. In my diary, however, written at that time I mention that the mouldings “seemed almost pure Greek.”’","physicalDescription":"A Buddhist Stupa in Manikiala, a village of India, in Rawalpindi district of the Punjab. It contains one of the largest stupas or Buddhist memorial shrines in North India. The stupa was excavated by General Cort in 1834, and has been identified by Sir A. Cunningham with the scene of Buddha’s “body-offering.”","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Simpson, William RI FRGS","id":"A10511"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AJ6543"],"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":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1863","earliest":"1863-01-01","latest":"1863-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from Messrs Day and Son Ltd (London) in 1869","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"14","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"20","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"<i>Front </i>- Manikiala Tope, Punjab. 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> - 129. (114) The Manikiala Tope, Panjaub..2. \n114. The Manikiala Tope, Panjaub. This is also called the tomb of Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander, which was said to have been killed in one of the Asiatic battles, and a city was built and called by Alexander after his steed. The natives have a legend of a vast city, which extend from this Tope away north to near Huzara, a distance of about twenty miles. The Tope stands not far from Rawal Pindee, and about forty miles from the Indus. The details of this building contain undoubted evidence of Greek art. The two rows of dwarf pilasters have had a compressed Corinthian capital, and the mouldings are very pure Greek, forming a frieze and cornice which no experienced eye could mistake. The outer facing of stone has nearly all tumbled down and covered the lower base of pilasters; the whole mass seems of stone, not like the Bilah and Sarnath Topes, which are of brick in the inside. This Tope was opened by General Ventura, one of Ranjit Singh’s generals, and one or two small relics were found in it. One was a small vase containing a dark coloured liquid. In spite of the legend of Alexander’s horse, this Tope is generally believed to have been one of the usual Buddhist Dhagopas, and was erected about the fourth or fifth century. \r\n","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":"Simpson, William (1823-1899).  Painter and lithographer.  Simpson was apprenticed to a lithographer in Glasgow and in 1851 came to London where he made views of the Great Exhibition.  He became well known for his paintings with commissions by Queen Victoria  to paint various important events in her reign. In 1859 the publishers, Day and Son, commissioned him to make drawings of India.  On his return he produced \"India, ancient and modern\" (London, 1867), a series of illustrations of the country and its people.  Later in 1876, he accompanied the Prince of Wales to India and published \"Shikare and Tomasha, a souvenir of the visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to India (London, 1876).","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Painting of the Buddhist stupa of Manikiala, Punjab, by William Simpson, pencil and watercolour on paper, London, 1863","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":[{"text":"stupa","id":"AAT7576"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1144-1869"],"accessionNumberNum":"1144","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1869,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-24","recordCreationDate":"2003-01-22","availableToBook":true}}