An Englishman abroad: Sir James Emerson Tennent in Ceylon, 1845-50

Apollo

Volumn , Issue 537, 2006, Pages 36-43

  Jones, Robin ^a  

^a SOUTHAMPTON SOLENT UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 34347284633     PISSN: 00036536     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. For example, see Mildred Archer, 'The British as Collectors and Patrons in India, 1760-1830', in Mildred Archer, Christopher Rowell and Robert Skelton, Treasures from India: The Clive Collection at Paris Castle, London, 1987
2. Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters, Chicago and London, 1992
3. and Lucian Harris, 'British collecting of Indian art and artefacts in the 18th and early 19th centuries', PhD thesis, University of Sussex, 2002
4. Most of the biographical information regarding Tennent relies on Kingsley M. de Silva, 'Sir James Emerson Tennent: Colonial Administrator and Historian', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, vol. XII, special number, 1996. 13-37
5. G.C. Boase, The Dictionary of National Biography, London, 1898, vol. IVI
6. and ibid., rev. Elizabeth Baigent, The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford, 2004 (hereafter DNB)
7. K.M. De Silva, op. cit., p. 14
8. DNB, vol. IVI. 65
9. Sir Colin Campbell was Governor of Ceylon 1841-47. On his departure, Tennent acted as Governor until the arrival of Viscount Torrington. See H.A.J. Hulugalle, British Governors of Ceylon, Colombo, 1963. 67-74
10. The full title is Ceylon: An Account of the Island, Physical, Historical and Topographical with Notices of its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, 2 vols., London, 1859
11. Tennent also wrote Christianity in Ceylon, London, 1850; Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon, London, 1861
12. J.E. Tennent, Ceylon, revised 4th edition, London, 1860, vol. 1, p. 3
13. See Giles Tillotson, 'The Indian Picturesque: Images of India in British Landscape Painting, 1780-1880', in C.A. Bayly (ed), The Raj: India and the British, 1600-1947, exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery, London, 1991. 141-51
14. See K.M. de Silva, A History of Sri Lanka, Chennai. 17 and 60
15. The earliest European description of Polonnaruwa was written in 1820 by lieutenant Mitchell Henry Fagan of the 2nd Ceylon Regiment. See John Falconer, Regeneration. A reappraisal of photography in Ceylon, 1850-1900, London, 2000, p. 20
16. and idem, 'Pattern of Photographic Surveys: Joseph Lawton in Ceylon', in Maria Antonella Pelizzari (ed.), Traces of India: Photography, Architecture and the Politics of Representation, 1850-1900, Montreal, New Haven, London, 2003, p. 301
17. For Nicholl's career, see Martyn Anglesea, 'Andrew Nicholl and his Patrons in Ireland and Ceylon', Ulster Museum Studies, Summer, 1982. 130-51
18. see also S. Lakdusinge and R.K. de Silva (eds.), Exhibition of Andrew Nicholl Watercolours at the National Museum, Colombo, exh. cat., Department of National Museums, Colombo, 1998
19. Elie House, Mutwal, Colombo, was built by Philip Anstruther, Tennent's predecessor as Colonial Secretary
20. Lots 257 and 258, 24 September 2004
21. Andrew Nicholl, 'A sketching tour of five weeks in the forest of Ceylon - its ruined temples, colossal statues, tanks [reservoirs], dagobahs [stupas], etc', Part 1, Dublin University Magazine, vol. XI, 1852, p. 527
22. Part 2, vol. XI, p. 691
23. See E.F.C. Ludowyk, The footprint of the Buddha, London, 1958. 156-57
24. and S.D. Saparamadu (ed.), The Polonnaruna Period, Dehiwala, 1973)
25. Vihara: temple
26. For Hippolyte Sylvaf, see Ismeth Raheem, Catalogue of an Exhibition of Paintings, Engravings [and] Drawings of Ceylon by 19th Century Artists, Colombo, 1986. 45-47
27. In Tennent's Ceylon, Sylvaf's name is misspelt Sylvat
28. A.M. Ferguson, Souvenirs of Ceylon: A Series of One Hundred and Twenty Illustrations of the Varied Coast, River and Mountain Scenery..., London, 1869
29. See the present author's introductory essay on furniture from Ceylon and catalogue entries for Ceylonese furniture in A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, V&A, London, 2001)
30. see also Robin Jones, 'Hewavitarne Don Carolis: A Case Study of a Nineteenth Century Colombo Furniture Maker', Regional Furniture, vol. XIV, 2000. 74-86
31. "'Furniture of Plain but Substantial Kind" at the British Governors' Houses in Ceylon, c. 1830-1860', Studies in the Decorative Arts, vol. X, no. 1 (Fall-Winter 2002). 2-34
32. 'Furniture from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at International Exhibitions and World's Fairs, 1851-1904,' Furniture History, vol. XI, 2004. 113-34
33. '"Furnished in English style": Anglicization of local elite domestic interiors in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), 1850-1910', South Asian Studies, vol. XX, 2004. 45-46
34. P.H.D.H. Silva, A Catalogue of Antiquities and other Cultural Objects from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Abroad, Colombo, 1975, p. 190. This figure (acc. no. O\ 1830.6-12.4), c.1.4 metres high, is now thought to date between the 7th and 8th centuries (not the 10th as De Silva states); its original location is believed to have been a temple complex on the north-eastern coast of Ceylon between Trincomalec and Batticaloa
35. K.M. de Silva, op. cit. in n. 18 above, p. 572
36. The Library, University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka: MS, Major and Mrs G. Darby Griffiths, 'Ceylon During a Residence during the years 1840-1841', vol. III, p. 130; Cripps was Government Agent and Fiscal for the southern province of the island, 1838-50
37. Henry Charles Sirr, Ceylon and the Cingalese, London, 1850, vol. II, p. 267
38. See n. 6 above
39. Tennent, op. cit. in n. 16 above, p. 633
40. Griffiths, op. cit., vol. I, p. 59, 23 March 1841
41. Lot 286, 27 September 2004
42. See Jones, 'Furniture from Ceylon at International Exhibitions', op. cit.. 113-34
43. John Davy included an engraving of figures in traditional Kandyan dress, including a representation of a disare in his Account of the Interior of Ceylon, London, 1821, opp. p. 114. Although depicting Kandyan figures the cabinet was almost certainly made in the Galle District, as no furniture was made in the Kandyan regions at this period
44. Makara torana - makara archway, makara is a mythic beast resembling a dolphin or crocodile, with a snout like a shortened elephant's trunk and bird-like body: A.K. Coomaraswamy, Medieval Sinbahse Art, Broad Campden, 1908, p. 84. The back of the chair contains a recess, which may have contained an ivory insert
45. James Whitechurch Bennett, Ceylon and its Capabilities, London, 1843, p. 328: of the products of 'Matura' or Matara he notes 'carved figures of the native castes, are manufactured here for sale to the curious.'