ELD 132 — Castle at Kilif or at Kerki?
A watercolour sketch of a fortification on top of a steep hillock, showing the Russian flag. On the left margin is the shore of the Oxus, on the right margin seems to be some kind of a bazaar. In the foreground lie and stand four Bactrian camels and five horses with Turkomans. The building in the centre could be a ziyarat under a large tree. This sketch shows most probably Kilif Castle, as at Kerki (60 miles downstream) there is no matching hillock close to the shore of the river. Unlike the ske...
Enlargement of the group in the foreground.
A watercolour sketch of a fortification on top of a steep hillock, showing the Russian flag. On the left margin is the shore of the Oxus, on the right margin seems to be some kind of a bazaar. In the foreground lie and stand four Bactrian camels and five horses with Turkomans. The building in the centre could be a ziyarat under a large tree. This sketch shows most probably Kilif Castle, as at Kerki (60 miles downstream) there is no matching hillock close to the shore of the river.
Unlike the sketches ELD 001-107 this sketch was not photo-lithographed.
Unlike the sketches ELD 001-107 this sketch was not photo-lithographed.
[Sketch, verso:] Kirki (Russian advanced post on Oxus).
- Yate, A.C. (1887): Travels with the Afghan Boundary Commission, pp. 265-266: description of Kilif, “[…] On the Afghan side cliffs overhang the stream, and reappear on the Bokhara side in a rock on which is perched the small fort, in which resides the Bokhara Governor of Kilif, an old man named Toktamish Beg. […]”
- Yate, C.E. (1888): Northern Afghanistan or Letters from the Afghan Boundary Commission, pp. 251-253: description of the visit of Kilif in July 1886, p. 252: “[…] Kilif itself stands on the Bokhara side, and consists of a small picturesque-looking fort on a rocky mound just at the water’s edge, with a bazaar and village behind it. […]”
Image No.
ELD 132
Collection
Afghan Boundary Commission 1884-86
Series
ABC 6, ELD Sketches 108 to 134
Format
Watercolour, British Library WD 473, size 505/750 mm
Place, date
Kilif, June/July, 1886
Descriptors
Latitude / Longitude37.346500 / 66.265280
Google Earth37°20ʹ45ʺ N / 66°15ʹ50ʺ E / 280 m
Google Mapshttps://maps.google.com
Zoom Earthhttps://zoom.earth
Survey of India MapSheet 32, Buchara (1929): Kilif, 3 C
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