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[[File:P C Manuk.jpg|thumb]]
'''Percival Chater Manuk''' (22 July 1873 – 6 August 1946<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=The London Gazette| date=4 May 1962|page=3675|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/42665/page/3675/data.pdf}}</ref>) was an Indian judge and collector of art. He was posted in Patna as a high court judge and collected a large number of art objects and was among the first to write about the "[[Patna School of Painting]]". His collections are now deposited in museums in England, including the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam and the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]].
== Life and work ==
Percival Paul Astwachatoon Manuk was born in Calcutta, of Armenian heritage.<ref>{{cite book |author=Seth, Mesrovb Jacob |url=https://archive.org/details/ArmeniansInIndia_201402/page/n512/mode/1up |title=Armenians in India. From the Earliest times to the present day |year=1937 |place=Calcutta |page=468}}</ref> A grand uncle of his was Sir [[Paul Chater|Catchick Paul Chater]].<ref>"Mr. P. C. Manuk, the popular and eminent advocate of the Patna High Court, who is a grand nephew of the late Sir Catchick Paul Chater, is also a descendant, in the female line, of the illustrious Agah Catchick Arrakiel of Calcutta." Seth:468.</ref> He studied law in England and returned to India where he became a bar-at-law, barrister and later judge (1918-19) at the [[Patna High Court]]. While in Patna he collected art objects extensively and interacted with the artist Ishwari Prasad. He had a home in [[Bankipore]] which became a museum that was open to the public.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kumar, N. |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.2955/page/n49/mode/2up |title=Image of Patna. a supplement to Patna District Gazetteer, 1970 |publisher=Government of Bihar |year=1971 |page=32}}</ref> He was married to Nellie and the birth of a son Geoffrey Chater (b. 5 January 1894) is on record. The [[Patna Museum]] was started with patronage from Edward Gait and Manuk who was then a bar-at-law.<ref>{{cite book|page=83|year=1973| author=Sen, S.P.|title=Historians and Historiography in Modern India |publisher=Institute of Historical Studies|place=Calcutta|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.117772}}</ref><ref>{{cite newspaper|title=An uncommon art collector|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/arts/an-uncommon-art-collector-213697/|newspaper=The Tribune|date=27 March 2016|author=Goswamy, B.N.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=August 1929 |title=Patna Museum |url=https://archive.org/details/ModernReview/1929_v46/page/173/mode/1up |journal=The Modern Review |pages=173-180}}</ref> William George Archer visited Manuk in the 1940s and became aware of the [[Company style|Company School]] of Art from Manuk.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Skelton |first=Robert |date=1979 |title=William George Archer, O.B.E., M.A., D.Litt. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0035869X00135798/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland |language=en |volume=111 |issue=2 |pages=186–188 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00135798 |issn=0035-869X}}</ref> In 1943 he wrote about the Patna School of Art.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Manuk, P. C. |title=The Patna School of Painting.|journal= Journal of the Bihar Research Society|volume= 29 |year=1943|pages=143-169}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Manuk, P.C. |year=1942 |title=Indian Painting |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.501844/page/n19/mode/2up |journal=The Journal Of The Bihar And Orissa Research Society |volume=28 |pages=8-23}}</ref> He may have been among the first to use the term. [[Mildred Archer]] dedicated a book on Patna Painting to "P. C. Manuk and Miss Coles".<ref>{{cite book|author=Archer, Mildred|title=Patna Painting|year=1948| publisher=The Royal India Society}}</ref> He later lived in Dehra Dun and left India around 1945 although his probate notes his address as Bankipore, Patna.<ref name=":0" /> In his will he left a part of his collections to Miss Gertrude Coles. It is suggested that his wife had mental health issues and Coles had been involved in her care. The Will states that he left some material for Coles "in consideration of her retaining for my exclusive use at all times a suite of rooms in her London house" and "as the condition of my wife's mental health precluded me from leaving her any portion of personal property or effects, I have already long ago made an absolute gift to the late Gertrude Mary Coles of the whole of my collection of objects d'art." He also mentioned several other beneficiaries who were involved in his care including Gerald Austin Bernhard, Sailendra Nath Datta, Gregory Charles Samuel Manuk, Herbert Clifford Coles, and Philip Godfrey Swaab. A part of the collection was sold in 1948-49 for £5,326.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG37117|title=Percival Chater Manuk|publisher=British Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/centrefordesignhistory/2025/10/07/doing-design-history-kajal-meghani-on-histories-of-south-asian-museum-donors-and-new-directions-in-provenance-research/|title=Doing Design History. Kajal Meghani on histories of South Asian museum donors and new directions in provenance research|publisher=University of Brighton|date=7 October 2025}}</ref>

Among the collections bequeathed by Manuk and Coles is a series of forty erotic Indian miniatures which document Moghul rulers and their intimate relationships with Rajputs. It is thought to be inspired by the Kamasutra and shows male lovers associated with Mughals and Rajputs all depicted nude and the [[Nastaliq|nastal‘iq]] Persian writing for each begins with "The Private Pleasure of" and indicates the names of the people involved. It has been considered as an important document of the socio-political relationships between Mughals and Rajputs in the late 17th century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ramos |first=Imma |date=2014 |title=‘Private Pleasures’ of the Mughal Empire |url=https://academic.oup.com/arthistory/article/37/3/408-427/7278180 |journal=Art History |language=en |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=408–427 |doi=10.1111/1467-8365.12068|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/agent/agent-188391 Images in the Fitzwilliam Collection]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Manuk, Percival Chater}}
[[Category:1873 births]]
[[Category:1946 deaths]]
[[Category:Art historians]]
[[Category:Indian art collectors]]
[[Category:Armenian art collectors]]
[[Category:Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Museum founders]]
[[Category:People from Patna]]
[[Category:Judges of the Patna High Court]]

Percival Chater Manuk - Revision history

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