Showing 12 results

Correspondence concerning the sale of William Boutcher archaeological drawings of Assyrian sculptures made for the Assyrian Excavation Fund from 1853-1854. These were sold to the British Museum for £250 to be put with the drawings made by Boutcher post 1854. Fifteen letters and two statements, typed and handwritten.

The Society has within its collections three Persian manuscripts: the Shahnamah of Muhammad Juki (RAS Persian 239), the Gulistan of Sa‘di (RAS Persian 258), and the Masnavi of Zafar Khan (RAS Persian 310). These are both fragile and of great value. Therefore since 1946 they have been housed at other institutions which are able to provide the necessary care for them, firstly with the British Museum, then the British Library, and currently at the Cambridge University Library.
The material in this subseries concerns the care of these manuscripts:

• Correspondence and documentation concerning the loan of the manuscripts to the British Museum. Typed and printed, 11 pieces, dated 15 April 1946 - 30 December 1965.
• Correspondence between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the conservation of the Shahnamah of Muhammad Juki manuscript, Typed, 13 pieces, dated 18 June 1992 - 29 September 1993.
• Correspondence between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the making of microfilm copies of the manuscripts. Typed, 5 pieces, dated 19 October 1993 - 4 November 1993.
• 'RAS Manuscript. Shahnama. Persian MS 239 Conservation Report and Estimate 31 May 1994' - conservation report. Typed, 9 pieces.
• Correspondence between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the further care of the manuscripts, Typed, 2 pieces, 4 November 1994 -10 August 1999.
• Correspondence, indemnity certificates and valuations for the documents for 1999 and 2002. Typed, printed and handwritten, 14 pieces, dated 7 September 1999 - 12 December 2002.
• Correspondence, loan contracts, condition reports and indemnity certificates between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society. The duration of loan was originally from 5 July 2010 to 4 July 2013. Typed, 28 pieces, dated 3 February – 1 July 2010.
• Correspondence and documentation between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the termination of the loan agreement and the discussion of returning the manuscripts. Typed, 10 pieces, dated 28 October 2010 - 7 February 2011.
• Loan documentation, indemnity certificate and valuations for the manuscripts for 2014. Typed and printed, 28 pieces.

Most of the Society's objects were dispersed to other collections at an early stage of its history. However a few remain. Information about them is:

• Suit of armour - correspondence about a suit of Asian armour within its collections and the likely provenance. Typed and handwritten, 9 pieces, dated 6 December 1930 - M may 1932 (see RAS COLL8/5 for more information about its conservation).
• Notes on an Arabic Celestial Globe and a Phoenician tombstone - both transferred to the British Museum, Typed, 1 piece, undated.
• Correspondence between Professor J. Ryckmans and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning South Arabian inscriptions within the collections. Typed and handwritten, 20 pieces, dated 19 July 1977 - 17 February 1978.
• The Council Room Table - two articles: 'The New Council Room Table' by Alison Ohta extracted from a Society newsletter, unknown date; and 'The Jhansi Table', article originally written 3 October 2012, archival document created in 2025.
• Bookmarks for 'Statue of Zhenwu, the Dark Warrior' and 'Arrow Vase from ritual to game', objects lent to the Society but the Horniman Museum as part of the Objects in Focus project. The statue was lent in autumn 2016 and the vase in autumn 2018.
• 'Collecting Oriental and Asiatic Arms and Armour: The Activities of British and East India Company Officers,c.1800-1850' by Malcolm Mercer - a copy of the article first published in Arms and Armour, 2018. This gives background information to our suit of armour.
• Gravestone of Sir Stamford Raffles - the Society took in this gravestone in 2018. The note, 'Provenance of the Raffles gravestone donated to the Royal Asiatic Society on 11 May 2018' (created in 2018, archival document created in 2025) give details of its provenance. 'Two Tombstones, One Man' by Rosie Llewellyn Jones, an article in the Chowkidar, Autumn 2018, the publication for the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia.
• 'Information about Japanese gravestones provided by Yang Fu, 12 October 2018' - interpretation details for the inscriptions on the gravestones. Electronic document created in 2018, archival document created in 2025.
• Black and white photographs and descriptions of the copper plate inscriptions belonging to the Society on permanent loan to the British Museum.

Correspondence, insurance quotes, and indemnity certificates concerning the permanent loan of material to the British Museum. This material consists of:

• The commemorative inscription of the Ananta-Vasudeva temple at Bhuvanesvar, dated 1278 A.D.
• Three Ujjain copper-plate grants of the rulers of Malwa
• The Taxila Plate of Patika.
• Other stone inscriptions

These items were already at the British Museum before the first letter dated 6 June 1967 and have remained there. The correspondence includes some to confirm that the material is still with the British Museum. Much of the correspondence are photocopies of original letters. 67 items.

Collections information and engagement connected to our Manuscripts collections.

Two sets of postcards with illustrations from manuscripts:

• A set of 13 postcards with images from Muhammad Juki's Shahnamah of Firdausi, RAS Persian MS 239.
• Three postcards, 2 showing images from RAS Persian MS 239 and one image from the Gulistan of Sa'di, RAS Persian MS 258. These were photographed by Kevin Lovelock, British Museum. 1998.

Since the 1960s the Society had deposited on indefinite loan some copper-plate grants and other inscriptions with the British Museum. The material in this subseries consist of correspondence and documentation concerning this loan.

• Correspondence between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the initial loan and the continuing care of the items. Typed and printed, 12 pieces, dated 29 November 1967 - 5 March 1973.
• Correspondence between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning indemnity insurance for the items on loan. Typed and handwritten, 4 pieces, dated 16 September 1993 - 25 October 1993.
• Correspondence and list between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the ongoing loan and production of photographs, Typed, 4 pieces, dated 20 April 1998 - 7 September 1999.
• Correspondence between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning obtaining a full list of the items loaned. Computer printed, 1 piece, dated 30 March 2016.

Acknowledgement slip for the disposal of some volumes of the Numismatic Chronicle to the British Museum. One item.

Correspondence, Reports, Lists and Minutes concerning the transfer of museum objects to the Victoria & Albert Museum and British Museum. These are:

• Letter from Alex H Wilson, Solicitor to Miss Sykes, Secretary to Royal Asiatic Society to state that there should be no objection to the Society's objects being transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum to the British Museum with the consent of both bodies and the acknowledgement from the British Museum that they are held in account for the Royal Asiatic Society. Dated 5 April 1924. With this letter are two letters concerned with the transfer of the Museum objects to the India Office, one dated 1869.
• Letter from Victoria and Albert Museum to Miss Ella Sykes, Royal Asiatic Society to discuss the items that were in their Collections belonging to the Society, that had been transferred with the India Office collections and to send a list of these items (not with the letter). He writes how best to accommodate the objects either at the V&A or at the British Museum or returned to the Society. He also confirms that the Maori green-stone club will go to the Otago Museum. Dated 11 April 1924.
• Correspondence between Mr L. Hopkins, L.D. Barnett, British Museum, and Ella Sykes, Royal Asiatic Society, concerning transfer of items to the British Museum. Three handwritten letters, dated 14-23 April 1924.
• List of the items held at the Victoria and Albert Museum with key to their disposal. Typed with handwritten annotations.
• Report from an interview at the Victoria and Albert Museum concerning the sale of the Jahangir Cup to the Museum. Typed with handwritten notes. Date of interview, 27 May 1924.
• Letter from R. Sharp, Department of Printed Books, British Museum to L.D. Barnett to agree the transfer of some material, Handwritten with printed letterhead, dated 20 November 1925.
• Three reports from the Committee on the Society's Collections of Antiquities and on the Objects belonging to the Society now in the Victoria and Albert Museum which outline the decisions made regarding the collections. One also has handwritten notes and is dated by hand 30 November 1925. One is undated, the third is dated 3 December 1925 (this is a copy).
• Correspondence with L.D. Barnett concerning the sale of items at Steven's Auction Rooms. Two letters, one typed, one handwritten, dated 28 December 1925 and 29 January 1926.
• Sales catalogue for Stevens Auction Rooms Ltd. for auction of items belonging to the Society not wanted by the V&A or British Museums. Printed material, auction date 12 January 1926.

Information about, and evidence of engagement with the artwork collections of the Society. These are:

• Correspondence concerning the possible sale of, and notes about, the Qajar painting of two girls (RAS Cat.01.002) by an unknown artist. This sale did not go ahead. Typed and handwritten, 18 pieces, dated 14 May 1976 - 21 February 1978.
• 'Sotheby's Inventory and Valuation of the Oil Paintings, Busts and Plaques, Drawings, Works by Oriental Artists, Miscellaneous Engravings, Aquatints and Lithographs, Prints, Manuscripts and Indian Miniatures at 60 Queen's Gardens, London, W2 3AF and the Victoria and Albert Museum, to property of Royal Asiatic Society, taken for the purpose of Insurance at Mid-Sale Estimate, June 1992' - valuation report and allied correspondence between James Stourton, Director, Sotheby's and the Royal Asiatic Society, dated 11-29 June 1992.
• Reviews for the 'Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings, Engravings and Busts in the Collections of the Royal Asiatic Society' by Raymond Head, published by the Society in 1991. Copies of reviews from Ars Asiatiques XLVII 1992, Oriental Art, Winter 1993/3, and History Today February 1992.
• 'Equestrian portrait of Dara Shikoh' (RAS Cat.053.001) - postcard from a photograph by Kevin Lovelock, British Museum, 1998.
• Descriptions of the Chinese popular prints donated by Brian Houghton Hodgson and John Robert Morrison, description by Yin Hwang, dated 2000.
• 'Lieutenant-Colonel Godfrey Phipps Baker, 1786-1850' by Stuart Wilkinson, Society of Dyers and Colourists - article about Phipps Baker who donated a collection of artworks of Java. The article is undated.
• Correspondence between Dr Patrick Tuck, University of Liverpool and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the use of the image of the Chinese Court of Justice (RAS Cat.01.001) as the image for the conference menu card at the 'British Ships in China Seas Conference' held 17-20 September 2002. Correspondence is dated 31 May 2002.
• 'Ethiopian Paintings at the Royal Asiatic Society' by Alison Ohta - an article within The Anglo-Ethiopian Society News File, Summer 2008.
• 'Ethiopian Paintings held by the Royal Asiatic Society' by Geoffrey Ben-Nathan - an article within The Anglo-Ethiopian Society News File, Summer 2009, in relation to a lecture delivered by Heidi Cutts (British Museum) and Dorothea McEwan (Warburg Institute) on 24 March 2009. Note that in the same booklet there is another article by Chris Grant on the 2009 AGM lecture delivered by Louise Carver on population and sustainability in Ethiopia.
• Article relating to Dora Gordine and her connection with the Society. These are: 'Dora Gordine and the Royal Asiatic Society', 'Dora Gordine and Freya Stark', both by Dr Jonathan Black, Senior Research Fellow, Dorich House Museum, dated February 2008; and a copy of ‘Alive and significant: Aspects of Indian Art, Stella Kramrisch and Dora Gordine in South Kensington c. 1940' by Sarah Victoria Turner, published in ‘Wasafiri’, 2011. This latter article is an electronic article first created in 2011 and made into an archival document in 2025.
• 'Age of discovery' by Fran Gillespie - article concerning the exhibition 'India: East/West' of paintings and drawings from the Society's Collections held at the Virginal Commonwealth University, Qatar, March 2010. The article is from the Gulf Times, 25 March 2010.
• 'The Jones collection of botanical drawings at the Royal Asiatic Society' - script of a talk given by Kathy Lazenbatt, Royal Asiatic Society Librarian, at the Botany in British India study day, British Library, 7 December 2012.
• 'Representations of Nepal in the nineteenth century: the watercolour paintings of Dr. Henry Ambrose Oldfield', a dissertation submitted for the University of Sussex MA in Art History, 2 September 2013 in which the Hodgson Collection of Nepal paintings were used in the candidate's research.
• 'Conservation of a Shi'ite Pilgrimage Scroll from the Royal Asiatic Society' by Mathilde Renauld in the brochure for the MA Conservation 2018, Camberwell College of the Arts, London.
• 'A Global Society', an article in Asian Affairs, July 2017. concerning the new acquisition of a portrait of recent presidents and the director of the Society.