A view of the north gateway at Sanchi Tope, the great Buddhist stupa near Bhopal. This is one of a series of twenty views taken by Waterhouse (1842-1922) while he was seconded on special duty from the Royal (Bengal) Artillery to produce ethnographical portraits of the tribes of central India. It was later used as plate VI of James Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship (London, 1868). This series of views was photographed at his own cost and a set was sent, with a substantial report, to the Government of India, in the hope of achieving commissions to photograph 'similar remains of ancient times in this country...' See also lots 343 and 348.