James Harle, a former keeper at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, has died aged 84. Mr Harle was keeper of the Department of Eastern Art at the Beaumont Street museum from 1962 to 1987. In 1951, Mr Harle took his wife on a trip to India and it was this visit that ignited his interest in early Indian art and architecture.

This led him to embark on a degree course in Sanskrit and Pali at Oxford University, and he graduated with a first in 1956. He stayed on to study Indian art and architecture, and in 1959 was awarded a doctorate for his thesis on south Indian temple gateways.

In 1960, Mr Harle was appointed assistant keeper of the Museum of Eastern Art, before the exhibits were transferred to the Ashmolean, where he was promoted to senior assistant keeper, and later keeper.

Christopher Brown, director of the Ashmolean, said: "The Ashmolean owes to him a great debt of gratitude."