Antoine Polier
| 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.
Early Life
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.
<imagemap> Image:MordauntbMartinPolier.jpg|left|thumb|300px|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.
rect 367 145 406 198 General Martin - Soldier rect 331 73 355 126 Antoine Louis Polier - Soldier rect 443 114 480 169 Zoffany the painter rect 227 150 278 237 Nawab Wazir of Oudh rect 418 84 444 143 Ozias Humphrey - painter rect 228 281 334 336 cock fighting
desc none </imagemap>
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]
Legacy
His collection of miniatures are in Berlin.
References
- ^ a b
- ^ a b
- ^ William Dalrymple 'Antoines Junior Bibi' Sept 27 2002 Timesonline accessed July 2007
See Also
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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