Several of the notes pasted to the reverse of the mounts are signed or initialled by Alexander Hunter (b. 1816), implying that he took (or at least commissioned) the photographs. Hunter served in the Indian Medical Service from 1843-73, and during the 1860s was Superintendent of the Madras School of Industrial Arts. He was actively engaged in photography in the 1850s and 60s, particularly in relation to its use in the documentation of antiquities: 'Dr. Hunter...has trained pupils [of the School of Industrial Arts] in photography, and sends them out to take photographs of the most interesting remains in various parts of the Presidency' (Clement Markham, A memoir of Indian surveys, London, 1871, pp. 255-256). The monolithic temples, known to Europeans as the Seven Pagodas, on the south coast of Madras are the earliest examples in Southern India and became the focus of considerable scholarly attention in the 19th century. The portfolio appears to have been compiled (or at least the notes appear to have been written) after 1868, as they refer to 'Carr's book': W. M. Carr, Descriptive and historical papers relating to the Seven Pagoda, Madras, 1869