THE ORIENTAL PORTFOLIO.
Tuts is the title of a work on a magnificent scale, to consist of a series of views illustrative of Oriental scenery, antiquities, and habits, with accompanying descriptions. Hindostan alone presents a wide and fer- tile field for the pencil of the artist ; but it is not intended to limit the views to that continent, vast as it is. Whatever Eastern country may present features in its landscapes, architecture, or costume, picturesque or otherwise interesting, will be made to furnish characteristic subjects for the Oriental Portfolio. Considering how thoroughly this quarter of the world has been explored by Europeans, the supply of materials —much as they have been already used—is not likely to fail. The collections of Lord William Bentitick, Captain Grindley, and other
travellers, are announced as contributing to the store. The originals are first placed in the hands of artists to give them pictorial shape, and then consigned to the lithographic draughtsman to be rendered in the. tinted style of lithography that is now so fashionable. The only fear is, that the true Eastern character of the surrounding objects and ap- pearances of nature may be lost by this needful process.
The Fort of Monghir, with its domes and minarets—the ruins of a highly-ornamented tomb at Futtehpoor—a beautifully-enriched gateway at Deeg, a fortified place in Delhi—and the elegant pavilion attached to a tomb in the same vicinity, are all from sketches by Lieutenant BACON; and in themselves exhibit all interesting variety of Oriental architecture. A fifth plate is an interior of the Moorish Palace of the Ameer of Sind, (of which territory Hyderabad is the capital,) representing the performance of a "nautch" or dancing-girl. The scene was sketched by Captain GRINDLAY at the time, and most of the figures are portraits of the persons present. The Prince, Meer .Moorad Ali, reclines on a superb divan, his guest being seated on the ground beside him, and his court standing round ; the musicians, nod the other nautch-girls, who beat time with their hands, squatting down in front. The magnificent turbans and armed state of tee party, the slave fanning his master with the bunch of feathers, arid the rich architecture and superb accessories, realize all that fiction paints of the barbaric splendour and luxury of Oriental grandeur. H ACHE Ii as rendered this subject, the picturesque effect of which is supplied by STETHANOLT, ill a masterly manner : his other architectural view is cold in style, though the tint is warm and the effect sunny. PICKEN'S lithograph is cold both in tone and manner ; GAUCI.S, after ROBERTS, though hazy, is glowing and imaginative ; that by WALTON is full of light and atmosphere, but the pictorial effect of DIBDIN'S drawing is tame.
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