Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Razmnama and Ramayana Photographs
name: label: Creator
content: Widgery, Alban G. (Alban Gregory), 1887-1968
label: Creator
content: Akbar, Emperor of Hindustan, 1542-1605
label: Former owner
content: Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Transferred from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Library.
creator: label: Creator
content: Widgery, Alban G. (Alban Gregory), 1887-1968
label: Creator
content: Akbar, Emperor of Hindustan, 1542-1605
setName: label: See more items in
content: Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Razmnama and Ramayana Photographs
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: These photographs document paintings illustrating scenes from the Razmnama, a Persian translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, and the Ramayana. The original paintings Widgery photograph are from the collections of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum in Jaipur, India. Both works were commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar I (1542-1605).

The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, located at The City Palace in Jaipur, India, was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. It preserves and offers access to the palace itself, as well as collections of paintings, textiles, photographs, and archives.

Alban Widgery (1887-1968) was most noted as a professor of philosophy at Duke University, where he served as chair of the Department of Philosophy from 1930-1946. He specialized in the philosophy of religion and took particular interest in India, where he traveled extensively.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1924-1970s
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Photographs of the Paintings in the Razam-Nameh at The Palace, Jaipur, India given to the Freer Gallery of Art by Alban G. Widgery in 1965, Mahabharata copy prints created by Freer Gallery of Art staff in the 1970s, Ramayana photographs given to the Freer Gallery of Art by the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum in the early 1970s. All were maintained by the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Library prior to their transfer to the Archives in 2017.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: FSA.A2019.07
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Arranged by format, thereunder alphabetically by title, thereunder numerically.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Collection consists of three sets of silver gelatin black and white photographs. The first is a bound volume, titled Photographs of the Paintings in the Razam-Nameh at The Palace, Jaipur, India, prepared by Alban G. Widgery, containing 105 photographs of paintings depicting scenes from the Razmnama, a Persian translation and abridgement of the Mahabharata, including labels. Widgery obtained the photographs from the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, which holds the original Razmnama illuminated manuscript, in Jaipur, India before 1924. The volume is bound inside a cover originally belonging to Plants of the Falkland Islands.

The second is a larger set of 148 photographs of Razmnama/Mahabharata scenes. These are copy prints made in the 1970s by Freer Gallery of Art staff of photographs from the volume assembled by Widgery, including additional images that are not in the volume.

The third is a set of 154 photographs of paintings depicting scenes from the Ramayana from the collection of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, which gave the photographs to the Freer Gallery of Art in the early 1970s.