Antoine Polier

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Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri Polier\
Born 1741
Lausanne
Died 7 February 1795
France
Occupation Engineer
Spouse three
Children three

Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri Polier (1741-1795) was a Swiss or French adventurer, art collector, military engineer and soldier who made his fortune in India in the eighteenth century.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Claude Martin Antoine-Louis Polier Johann Zoffany

Antoine Polier, General Claude Martin, John Wombwell, assay master, and Johann Zoffany, the painter, surrounded by servants and Polier's art collection.
Antoine Polier, General Claude Martin, John Wombwell, assay master, and Johann Zoffany, the painter, surrounded by servants and Polier's art collection.

Opinions vary as to whether Antoine-Louis was born in Lausanne[1] of French lineage, but he could speak French and later Hindustani and Persian.

General Martin - Soldier Antoine Louis Polier - Soldier Zoffany the painter Nawab Wazir of Oudh Ozias Humphrey - painter Cock fighting

Colonel Mordaunt's cockfight by Johann Zoffany - Antoine is in the top right in a red coat. Others can be identified by moving the cursor over the painting.
Colonel Mordaunt's cockfight by Johann Zoffany - Antoine is in the top right in a red coat. Others can be identified by moving the cursor over the painting.

Antoine Polier was a Swiss engineer from Lausanne who fought with Robert Clive and became a rich trader. He devoted his free moments to collecting manuscripts in Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic.[1]

He had two Indian wives, Jugnu and Zinat[2], one senior and one junior and three children. He acquired a large art collection and became rich working for the Indian royalty. In 1788 he left his Indian wives with Claude Martin[2] and settled in France with an unfortunate timing as he arrived in time for the French revolution. Having purchased a chateau and taking a third wife (a non-Muslim one), he was stabbed on February 9 1795 in the terror that followed the French revolution.[3]

[edit] Legacy

His collection of miniatures are in Berlin.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Maya Jasanoff, 'Edge of Empire: Conquest and Collecting on the Eastern Frontiers of the British Empire, 1750-1850' Fourth Estate
  2. ^ a b Polier A Man of the Enlightenment in 18th Century India: The Letters of Claude Martin, 1766-1800. Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
  3. ^ William Dalrymple 'Antoines Junior Bibi' Sept 27 2002 Timesonline accessed July 2007

[edit] See also

Claude Martin

[edit] Further reading

  • A European Experience of the Mughal Orient: The I’jaz-i Arsalani (Persian Letters, 1773-1779) of Antoine-Louis-Henri Polier - Translated with an introduction by Muzaffar Alam and Seema Alavi. Pub.Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 564980 X
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