Seven Four Seven Legends of Love (747 Air India. Folio of Colour Prints, brochure.)
Bombay: Air India, ( 1960). Folio, stiff card, cut-out in centre with decorative border in gilt to the cut-out, gilt dec border to edges, and Air India's Maharaja logo in gilt. Total of 16 plates with text plus a double-page with inside showing four photographs, one of which shows passengers seated in a 747 economy cabin, however, does not include image of the "Air India" plane.
All the loosely inserted plates inside are 380 mm x 265 mm. The contents are: a four page folding leaflet titled "Seven Four Seven Legends of Love", describing the many stories surrounding Krishna; a single page sheet, "Air-India's Seven-Four-Sevens," explaining how the Krishna legends have inspired the design of the interiors of the new aeroplanes, including "motifs [...] styled after the traditional school of miniature painting"; a single-page colour reproduction of a painting of Krishna, with a quote from the poet Vidyapati; fifteen more plates each with a colour reproduction from a historical painting, all with an attribution in the caption and a quote from an Indian poem or text; and a four page folding leaflet with photographs of the interiors of the planes, showing details, e.g. "The window panels of the 747 cabins are trellised with episodes from the immortal Krishna Legend", "Up a spiral staircase to the intimate Maharajah Lounge which is dominated by a mural adapted from the celebrated frescoes at Ajanta." N.d., (early 1970s), n.p., possibly Bombay [Mumbai]. Light rubbing to front of folio. One plate and the folder have small creases to the corner, all plates are clean. Near-fine condition.
Tourism brochure, large format folio of prints, produced to commemmorate the new design of Air India's planes in the early 1970s and probably given to select passengers. Ephemeral, a scarce survival. A beautiful collection of paintings, and a 'time capsule' look at the aeroplane interior designs of the period. Item #106109
Price (AUD):
$120.00
Other currencies