In the spring of 1998, the department store De Bijenkorf organised a major selling exhibition of ceramics painted by eight contemporary Indian artists: Mrinalini Mukherjee (1949-2015), Bharti Kher (b.1969), Sheila Makhijani (b.1962), Subodh Gupta (b.1964), Manisha Parekh (b.1964), Gogi Saroj Pal (1945-2024), Shambhavi Singh (b.1966) and Sanjeev Sinha (1963-2020). In total, this tableware collection comprised more than two thousand objects, each hand-painted and produced by the porcelain manufacturer Good Earth in New Delhi.

The project was part of Doors to India, a multifaceted festival of art, culture and food to mark fifty years of India’s independence. Various events were held at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam and the Soeterijn Theatre, including music, dance, storytelling and a programme dedicated to the Indian mystic Mirabai. The driving force behind the ceramics project was Eegje Schoo, former Minister for Development Cooperation (1982-86) and later ambassador to India (1987-91). She championed contemporary Indian art through her affiliation with the Foundation for Indian Artists, which promoted cultural exchange between the Netherlands and India. Schoo gifted the objects shown here to the museum in the autumn of 2023.

Caption: plate, 1997-98, Gogi Saroj Pal (1945-2024), New Delhi, India, for De Bijenkorf, hand-painted porcelain