Ensign James Blunt
Cuttub Minar in April 1794
Original 18th c. Engraving with book chapter (see details below)
Estimated date of printing: between 1794-1799
Plate: 26.5 x 19.5 cms / 10.5 x 7.6” app. & 4 additional pages of same size, printed recto-verso
Non-exportable antiquity. Cannot be exported out of India.
(The work will be shipped without a frame. Framing is available on request.)
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This historical illustration depicts a detailed architectural view and engineering study of the Qutab Minar, Delhi. The original sketch is likely made by Ensign James Blunt in April 1794 and this engraving (by an anonymous engraver) may have been published between 1795-1799.
Blunt’s sketch and consequently this engraving is important in being one of the earliest European visual records of the Qutab made directly from observation. Also in that it predates the British occupation of Delhi (1803), nineteenth-century restoration campaigns, and archaeological clearance of the Qutab complex.
The Delhi earthquake of 1803 had a very important effect on the Qutb Minar: it destroyed its original crowning cupola and seriously damaged the upper part of the tower. Blunt recorded the Minar before the earthquake and therefore provides unusually valuable evidence for what its pre-1803 summit looked like. His work records Firoz Shah Tughlaq’s cupola addition in its ruinous state.
The plate is accompanied by the book chapter on the Qutab, “A description of the Cuttub Minar”, making it even more precious. This was published in Asiatick Researches; or, Transactions of the Society, Instituted in Bengal, for Inquiring into the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature, of Asia. Vol. 4. Calcutta: Printed by the Press, 1795. It was later published in London, in 1799. It is hard to ascertain the exact edition from which this plate and chapter, has been extracted, as several editions exist with variations.
Ground Plan: The circular insert at the top right represents a precise ground plan mapping out the alternating angular and semicircular fluting pattern that characteristically details the tower's lowest level.
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Condition Report: In good condition overall: no major damage or tears. Some foxing, as clearly visible in the images.