Research Catalog

The Citraśāstra palm-leaf manuscript from Odisha (India) : a spurious manual for painters from Odisha, formerly in the collection of Alice Boner

Title

The Citraśāstra palm-leaf manuscript from Odisha (India) : a spurious manual for painters from Odisha, formerly in the collection of Alice Boner / Eberhard Fischer and Dinanath Pathy ; foreword Johannes Beltz and Harsha Vinay.

Author

Fischer, Eberhard, 1941-

Publication

Zurich : Publication-Foundation for Museum Rietberg Zurich ; Varanasi : Alice Boner Institute, [2020]
©2020

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JQG 21-832	Schwarzman Building - Art & Architecture Room 300

Details

Additional Authors

Description

87 pages : illustrations; 32 cm.

Summary

"In the 1960s, the Puri-based and internationally known Pandit Sadasiva Rath Sarma presented Alice Boner with an illustrated palm-leaf manuscript entitled "Citraśāstra" (painting treatise). It consists of nineteen folios, inscribed on both sides with Sanskrit slokas (verses) and Odia captions to a large number of incised drawings and diagrams. The pothi (manuscript) also contains a four-line colophon that speaks of a Rūpakāra (wood-sculptor's caste) master from Puri as the author and also gives a date that leaves much room for interpretation. The light-brown folios have the look of antiques, of having been prepared decades, if not centuries, ago. No similar text exists in the Odia language and only a few comparable works are known, all famous and often quoted among art-historians. In 1999, my friend Dinanath Pathy showed me the manuscript; I photographed the folios and we decided to publish it. In the process of editing the fascinating opus, which provides us with most interesting terms in Sanskrit as well as in the specific Odia workshop lingo of "traditional" craft-persons of Puri, we were again and again puzzled by obscure details. But only after we had properly transliterated and translated all the inscriptions, when we translated and discussed between us the colophon, we questioned more and more the authenticity of the manuscript. Slowly, the pure editing work changed to become a forensic affair. And we asked ourselves: If this manuscript was "spurious", what are the consequences for the work of Alice Boner done in collaboration with Pandit Sadasiva Rath Sarma, who, we were now certain, had produced this palm-leaf manuscript? We, time and time again, felt obliged to give up the editing project. But in the summer of 2016, the last weeks that Dinnath Pathy and I enjoyed working together, we decided to finalize our essay for publication. Unfortunately, my friend passed away in August 2016 and I have to present now alone our findings. Eberhard Fischer, Winterthur, February 2020."--Back cover.

Series Statement

Alice Boner dialogues ; no. 1

Uniform Title

Alice Boner dialogues ; no. 1.

Alternative Title

Spurious manual for painters from Odisha, formerly in the collection of Alice Boner

Subject

Note

Based on a presentation at the symposium "Dialogues on Alice Boner" from January 12-14, 2018, in connection with an exhibition at the Museum Rietberg, Zürich.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 86-87).

Contents

The Citraśāstra palm-leaf manuscript -- The making of the Odia Citraśāstra -- A questionable colophon -- A questionable palm-leaf manuscript.

Call Number

JQG 21-832

ISBN

9783907077610
390707761X

LCCN

2020510290

OCLC

1240819255

Author

Fischer, Eberhard, 1941- author.

Title

Publisher

Zurich : Publication-Foundation for Museum Rietberg Zurich ; Varanasi : Alice Boner Institute, [2020]

Copyright Date

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Alice Boner dialogues ; no. 1

Alice Boner dialogues ; no. 1.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 86-87).

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Added Author

Boner, Alice, 1889-1981, collector.

Pathy, Dinanath, author.

Beltz, Johannes, writer of foreword.

Vinay, Harsha, writer of foreword.

Museum Rietberg, issuing body, host institution.

Alice Boner Institute, issuing body.

Research Call Number

JQG 21-832

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