40 
THE INDIAN MUSEUM: 1814-1914. 
been in favour of grouping by industries, on the grounds that 
students would thus obtain greater facilities for their re¬ 
searches, and the general public would be able more readily 
to understand the character of the arts represented. 
With this object in view the collections in this section 
have been arranged primarily into three main classes: (1) 
textiles; (2) metal, wood, ceramics etc., and (3) pictures. 
These three classes have again been resolved into subdivisions, 
as for example the textile class, which has been separated 
into (a) those articles decorated in the loom, such as flowered 
muslins and brocades, and (&) those which are ornamented 
after they leave the loom, such as embroideries and cotton 
prints. 
Within this classification the aim has been to observe 
such methods of subsidiary grouping as may render the 
collections both useful to the student and intelligible to the 
general public. These methods necessarily vary somewhat 
in the different classes, but as a rule may be described in this 
order (a) process or technical subdivision of the craft; (b) 
historical, by date; (c) local, by country of manufacture. 
In explaining this system of arrangement one cannot be 
unconscious of the fact that even in this matter there can be 
two points of view; I refer to the eastern and western. For 
instance, all over the East caligraphy is considered a fine 
art, and in China the penman who can write elegantly in 
sweeping lines with a flowing brush is ranked above the 
artist. In the same way the khush navis or pleasing writer ” 
of India has always been regarded as a great craftsman. To 
fall in with this aspect of oriental art, therefore, it is apparent 
that caligraphy should find a suitable place in our classifi¬ 
cation. 
Further, it is obvious that in dealing with a complex 
assemblage of objects, there must naturally be found some 
examples in which the leading principle of arrangement can¬ 
not strictly be followed; and some examples in which a 
certain overlapping of the various classes is bound to occur. 
Where, however, any given object illustrates in itself more 
than one process or craft, the object has been allocated so far 
as possible to the class which appeared to have the stronger 
