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Description: | Watercolour with pen and ink of a view of Kama from 'A Series of Views in Burmah taken during Major Phayre’s Mission to the Court of Ava in 1855' by Colesworthy Grant. This album consists of 106 landscapes and portraits documenting the British embassy to the Burmese King, Mindon Min (r.1853-1878). The mission started at Rangoon (Yangon) and travelled up the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) River to the royal capital of Amarapura in central Burma, founded in 1782. It was despatched by the Governor-General of India Lord Dalhousie and headed by Arthur Phayre. Grant (1813-1880) was sent as official artist of the mission. In recognition of his skill, the Burmese King presented him with a gold cup and ruby ring.
Grant wrote that: 'Quitting Prome, about four hours steaming brings the voyager to the picturesque town of Kama, situated on the right bank of the river. Here, rising from the centre of the town, is a very fine pagoda, which appears to have more than common claims to attention; but far more than by the pagoda itself is the eye arrested by a marvellous pair of gigantic griffins, or nondescript monsters, which, towering far above the dwellings of the people, upon the very margin of the river, form the colossal guardians of the entrance to the Temple...The height of these figures at Kama, as observed from the steamer, appeared to be about thirty feet.' | License: | http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permission.html | Rights holder: | British Library | Source: | Collect Britain | Creator: | Grant, Colesworthy (1813-1880) | Identifier: | http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personal... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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