Ancient, armed Indian from Kabul

Aqtai · 23rd May 2005, 09:29 AM

B.I.

I have just dug up that V&A postcard to see what it says on the back. The caption is Lahore, first half of 19th century... Courtesy of the board of Trustees of the Armouries.

That year there was an exhibition of Sikh Art, and it may be that the armour was loaned for that reason. I'm surprised though, the V&A already has a very good collection of Islamic and Oriental armour, you wouldn't have thought they needed a loan from the Royal Armouries.

I have seen other pictures as well as real examples in museums of Ganga-Jamni mail, and I know that they do other patterns, including Arabic writing.

This particular picture comes, from of all places, a Dorling Kindersley book

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The same book has another picture of mail identical to the one in the original picture in this thread.

tom hyle · 23rd May 2005, 01:29 PM

One thing worth noting about the royal armouries dagger is that they are/were clearly aware of the resemblance to a SE Asian piece, and considered that worth mentioning; it could be an error, but is not a simple mistake of ignorance of forms. it is possible dhas were known to the curators, but the yaganesque blade threw them off, for instance. Perhaps they "knew" that this shape of blade came from Alexander/Macedon....

23rd May 2005, 09:29 AM	#1
Aqtai Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Merseyside, UK Posts: 222	B.I. I have just dug up that V&A postcard to see what it says on the back. The caption is Lahore, first half of 19th century... Courtesy of the board of Trustees of the Armouries. That year there was an exhibition of Sikh Art, and it may be that the armour was loaned for that reason. I'm surprised though, the V&A already has a very good collection of Islamic and Oriental armour, you wouldn't have thought they needed a loan from the Royal Armouries. I have seen other pictures as well as real examples in museums of Ganga-Jamni mail, and I know that they do other patterns, including Arabic writing. This particular picture comes, from of all places, a Dorling Kindersley book . The same book has another picture of mail identical to the one in the original picture in this thread. Last edited by Aqtai; 23rd May 2005 at 10:00 AM.

23rd May 2005, 01:29 PM	#2
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	One thing worth noting about the royal armouries dagger is that they are/were clearly aware of the resemblance to a SE Asian piece, and considered that worth mentioning; it could be an error, but is not a simple mistake of ignorance of forms. it is possible dhas were known to the curators, but the yaganesque blade threw them off, for instance. Perhaps they "knew" that this shape of blade came from Alexander/Macedon....