Last month, Gillian and I made a quick dash to southern France to see various dear friends. We first went to visit Mohammad Khairzada, who together with his wife and children found a safe haven in France some years ago when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Khairzada studied with us in Leiden in 2007-2008, and returned to his country to conduct various archaeological excavations in and around Kabul, among other places at the famous Buddhist site of Mes Aynak. I regularly met him again at the Dutch embassy in Kabul and elsewhere when I worked in Uruzgan, in the south of the country, between 2008 and 2011.

We also went to see Joanne and Luc Aujame, who have a beautiful farmhouse just outside of Lyon. Luc lived in Kabul as a child, many years ago, together with his parents. His father, Roger Aujame, and his mother, Edith Schreiber-Aujame, were architects and urban planners who worked in the Afghan capital from 1961-1965. Some time ago, Luc and his wife donated a large number of Afghan garments to the TRC, including textiles and other objects from Nuristan (Fig. 1), formerly known as Kafiristan, east of Kabul. They also gave the TRC a large number of scans of colour photographs taken in Afghanistan in the early 1960s.

Fig. 1. Prayer mat from Nuristan, Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2022.1936). Aujame Family donation.

We then went on to see our eldest son and his wife, and their two lovely children (yes, we are very proud grandparents), who were enjoying their holidays in the nearby Ardèche region. We remembered how our two boys, when they were about ten years old, told us that all their friends went camping in France with their parents during the holidays. They asked when we would go there. I am afraid we told them they could do so when they were big and grown-up. Being very irresponsible parents, we took our boys instead on long trips through Iran, both in the summers and in the winters, collecting garments for the TRC. Guess where they go camping these days!

Fig. 2. Pair of embroidered trousers, to be worn in a zurkhâne, 'House of Strength', Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2016.1772). Schinasi Family donation.From the Ardèche, we drove on to Nice, to see our dear friends May and Rolando Schinasi. They lived in Kabul for many years before the start of the civil war, and over the years collected many items for which they are now trying to find a good home. For the last few years they donated many Afghan textiles (Fig. 2) and other goods (including jewellery and wooden utensils from Nuristan), to the TRC. Last year, om another trip, our car was filled with 19th-century jezails and fake British rifles. Is armoury part of ‘dress’? I tend to think so, but Gillian has her reservations.

Earlier this year they gave a number of mid-19th century lithographs to the TRC (click here), and this time they again donated another selection. These include illustrations by artists such as James Atkinson and James Rattray, both of whom were British officers serving with the British-Indian forces in Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842).

The illustrations show a wealth of detail of contemporary Afghan clothing. Most of the prints have now been catalogued and photographed, and you can see them in the online database of the TRC collection. Just type in the names of James Atkinson or James Rattray and you will find them.

Fig. 3. Coloured lithograph INTERIOR OF THE PALACE OF SHAUH SHUJAH OOL MOOLK, LATE KING OF CABUL, based on the work of James Rattray, from late 1842 (TRC 2025.1051). Schinasi Family donation.

I want to draw attention to some of them, as for instance “Interior of the Palace of Shauh Shujah ool Moolk, late King of Cabul" (Fig. 3; TRC 2025.1051). It is a coloured lithograph by Robert Carrick based on a sketch by James Rattray. It shows the audience hall (darbâr khâne) in the Lower Bala Hissar of Kabul.

Fig. 4. CHIEF EXECUTIONER AND ASSISTANT OF HIS MAJESTY, THE LATE SHAH. Coloured lithograph by Robert Carrick, after James Rattray. Plate XIV in Rattray 1847. Public domain.The sketch was apparently made after the return to Kabul of British troops in September 1842, who in the winter of 1841-1842 had been forced the evacuate the Afghan capital (the infamous Retreat from Kabul). What I like about this illustration is the clear mockery expressed by the depicted Afghans (and Rattray); the man sitting on the throne is not the king (Shah Shuja had been killed in April), but someone else; the courtiers who stand nonchalantly leaning against the balustrade clearly express their feelings.

But also have a look at the wonderful caps some of them are wearing. From other illustrations and descriptions we know that Afghan officials at the Afghan court wore the most amazing head coverings. Mountstuart Elphinstone, the first British diplomat to visit the Afghan court, in 1809, and who wrote An Account of the Kingdom of Cabul (first published in 1815) writes about the caps of some courtiers. “They are generally black and red, but their variety and their whimsical shapes baffle all description: little taste is displayed in them, and the effect is not good.” There is a particularly fascinating lithograph based on the work of James Rattray that shows such a cap. (Fig. 4).

Another illustration, also by James Rattray (Fig. 5; TRC 2025.1052), shows the inside of the mausoleum of Mahmud of Ghazni, the Turkic conqueror of northern India in the early 11th century. His tomb, in his former capital of Ghazni, modern eastern Afghanistan, was a pilgrimage site for Muslims from as far away as Istanbul in the west and Kashmir in the east.

In the First Anglo-Afghan War it became notorious for the removal, by British troops, of its carved doors, which for centuries had been identified with the doors of the Hindu Temple of Somnath in India, which as plundered in 1015/1026 by Mahmud and his troops. After the removal of the doors from Ghazni, it was soon found out that they did not come from Somnath. They were subsequently carted off to Agra and stored in the Red Fort, where Gillian and I could see and photograph them some years ago.

Fig. 5. MOSQUE AND TOMB OF THE EMPEROR SOOLTAUN MAHMOOD OF GHUZNEE. Coloured lithograph based on the work of James Rattray 1847/48, Plate X (TRC 2025.1052). Schinasi Family donation.

I also want to look at another illustration, namely a tinted lithograph based on a sketch by James Atkinson (Fig. 6; TRC 2025.1042). It shows four men, two standing and two, in the background, on horseback. They are portrayed against the background of the Shahr-e Zohâk, a fortress close to the Bamiyan Valley, central Afghanistan. One of the men is wearing an ornate outfit with a large turban, coats and jacket. The other man is an attendant with a horse. He is wearing a simple form of dress and a fur-lined cap.

Fig. 6. CASTLE OF ZOHAUK--MARAN BRITISH COMMANDANT OF SHAH SHOOJAUS 2ND JANBAZ CAVALRY AND AFGHAN TROOPERS. Tinted lithograph, based on the work of Lockyer Willis Hart and James Atkinson, 1843 (TRC 2025.1042). Schinasi Family donation.

The man in the foreground is, in fact, a British officer, Captain Lockyer Willis Hart, who served with the 22nd Regiment Bombay Artillery during the First Anglo-Afghan War. Hart is dressed in what Mountstuart Elphinstone called a Persian-style dress, featuring a long coat with a V-shaped chest panel. He is armed with a Persian-style shamshir sabre. His long, beautifully embellished waistcoat is more local. The fur-lined cap of the attendant identifies the man as a Hazara, an ethnic group that lives in the main in central Afghanistan and traditionally claims descent from the Mongols under Genghis Khan.

These and other prints inspired us to start adding more 19th-century depictions of Afghan life to the TRC collection. I collected hundreds of them over the years preparing a ms on 19th century Afghanistan. I took them from British periodicals such as The Illustrated London News, The Graphic, and Punch. Some of them show a wealth of detail about Afghan dress in the 19th century, They belong in the TRC collection!

Willem Vogelsang, 17 August 2025