India: A History in Objects is yet another book that tries to understand India through its objects. Yet, an object is more than an object, particularly in India. In addition to a patron and a creator, it likely had an environment that fostered it, a textual source that inspired it, and a timeless creative tradition that sustained it. Such an object creates relationships with objects around it, usually as part of a religious or cultural tradition, meant mainly for its subjective, inward, aesthetic experience.
An encyclopedic work like this one can have much to offer about its subject matter even if it lacks academic depth and treats objects of art as mere ephemeral curiosities. To be fair, Blurton makes this point himself at the outset. The title of the book is also a misnomer; the objects are not from every museum that makes a contribution to the history of the...