Yale Center for British Art, Joseph F. McCrindle, Yale LLB 1948, Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2017.8.1
Classification:
Sculptures
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
portrait | turban | beard
Currently On View:
Not on view
Gallery Label:
Abdul Karim (1862/3–1909) and Muhammad Shakh, two Indian servants of Queen Victoria, were brought to London in 1887 to mark Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Both Muslim, Karim and Shakh attended Victoria and tutored her in Hindustani language. Karim became a trusted favorite of the queen and rose to become her Indian secretary in 1884. Both men endured hostility from within the royal household and suspicion from members of the queen’s government for their race, class, and religion. Victoria was under constant pressure to remove them from their posts but stood by them. Shakh returned to India, but Karim remained with Victoria until her death. He was then sent immediately back to India, and Edward VII burned all his correspondence with the queen. The Austrian-born Joseph Edgar Boehm had settled in London in 1862 and soon established himself as Queen Victoria’s favorite sculptor. She perhaps commissioned these busts from him shortly after the pair had settled in Britain. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2021