Benares, Floral Carvings on Do-Do 1865 - 1866

Curator: Let's consider Samuel Bourne's "Benares, Floral Carvings on Do-Do," a 23.7 x 29 cm photograph currently housed at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The monochromatic palette really highlights the textures. It feels weighty, almost crumbling, yet those carved floral elements suggest delicacy. Curator: Indeed. The sharp contrast emphasizes the formal tension between decay and ornament. Note how Bourne frames the composition; the architectural elements are not merely represented but presented as a study in relief and form. Editor: I'm struck by the labor involved—the quarrying, the carving itself. The photograph flattens it, but I imagine the scale and physicality would be imposing in person. What kind of tools did they use, and how long did such intricacy take? Curator: Precisely. The act of photographic reproduction mediates that labor, transforming the object into an image, shifting our focus to the visual structure rather than the manual process. Editor: Still, thinking about the hands that shaped these stones, that is what connects me to it. Curator: A fitting connection, given the enduring questions of time and craftsmanship that both the structure and Bourne’s photograph pose.