ABSTRACT
In March 1973, The High Commissioner of India Formally Opened an exhibition at the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh which was dedicated exclusively to Asiatic sculptures. The Museum was one of only four institutions in the UK to respond to the invitation from the Royal Asiatic Society to celebrate their 150th anniversary by organising an exhibition. Scarce judiciously took this event as a chance to draw public attention to the Museum’s valuable collection of Indian stone sculpture, since the Museum closed at the outbreak of World War II. Indian material has come into the Museum since its inception as the Industrial Museum of Scotland in 1854. Forming an important part of the British Empire, India was an obvious source for the worldwide collecting of industrial specimens, from raw materials to finished products. The Museum benefited from Edinburgh’s position as a sub-national capital, and governmental sources provided splendid assemblages of Indian craftsmanship.
