Fables from the Orient. Miniaturists, artists and adventurers at the court of Lahore - Exhibition Album

The Jean de La Fontaine Museum in Château-Thierry preserves a set of 60 Fables illustrated in Attock (nowadays Pakistani city of Punjab, not far from Rawalpindi and Peshawar) between 1837 and 1839, by the painter Imam Bakhsh Lahori, at the instigation of Baron Félix de Conches (1798 -1887). Having held the posts of Introducer of Ambassadors and Head of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was able to build up collections of English and French 19th century paintings, the history of civilisations, Near Eastern and Asian art. He was a fervent admirer of the Fabulist - whose illustrations he collected in particular between 1828 and 1840.
This set of colourful, unusual and sometimes tasty illustrations remains largely unknown to the general public and reveals an unexpected and largely unpublished aspect of Indian pictorial production.
These Fables illustrated by a painter from Lahore in the first half of the 19th century serve as a pretext for a broader evocation of the court of Lahore during the reign of Mahârâjah Ranjit Singh, through another set of paintings by Imam Baksh Lahori preserved in Guimet.

Ancient photographs, portraits, jewels will complete this evocation.

Exhibition at the Musée national des arts asiatiques - Guimet from 20 February to 27 May 2019

French
96 pages / 65 illustrations

Co-published by Rmn - Grand Palais / Musée national des arts asiatiques - Guimet