Mementoes of power and conquest: Sikh jewellery in the collection of National Museums Scotland
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DividingThe_Spoils.png
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Resource type
Book chapter
Creator (person)
Voigt, Friederike
Date published
September 2020
Abstract
This chapter traces the historical trajectory of pieces of jewellery and personal effects in the collection of National Museums Scotland which once belonged to the last Sikh ruler of Panjab, Maharaja Duleep Singh (1838–93). Deposed from the throne after the Second Anglo–Sikh War, exiled and deprived of his possessions, religion and identity, Duleep Singh has been considered a pawn of Empire. Rather than interpreting the jewellery as signs of royal splendour, the chapter foregrounds the historical significance of these jewels. Using archival sources, the chapter traces their different ownerships back to the dispersal of the Lahore treasury, or Toshakhana, following the defeat of the Sikh army by the British in the Second Anglo-Sikh War 1848–49 and emphasises the multitude of perspectives of the different agents involved in the British Empire in India on these objects.
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) | |
Series name
Studies in Imperialism
Book title
Dividing the spoils: Perspectives on military collections and the British empire
Editor
Lidchi, Henrietta
Allan, Stuart
Pagination
247-268
Publisher
Manchester Univerity Press
Place of publication
Manchester
Official URL
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Rights statement
In Copyright