Looking into cases at the small, utterly engaging exhibition of Indian paintings at the British Museum (Faith, Narrative and Desire, until 11 November) I kept bumping my head against the glass. Little greasy smudges showed where others had done the same thing. A label that describes how these works were first used helps explain why we wanted to get close to them. They were not intended to be hung on walls, but to be passed from hand to hand, 'often enjoyed intimately, at particular times of the day and among a small group of people' who would 'share in the particular moods evoked by the paintings'.

LRB 20 September 2007 | PDF Download