The Zeina Splendour of The Indian Courts exhibition at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization delivers a remarkable overview of craftsmanship and elegance from the royal courts of the Indian subcontinent.
It features a total of 84 pieces, all on display for the first time in Sharjah, drawn from the al-Sabah collection – regarded as one of the most important collections of Islamic art in the world. The late Sheikh Nasser Sabah and Sheikha Hessa Sabah of Kuwait built a collection of artefacts from the Islamic world that now totals somewhere around 25,000 objects. They’re housed at the Kuwait National Museum by the Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah, an organisation of which Sheikha Hessa is the director general.
It’s not just the size of thee collection that is so impressive – it’s the range. It includes arms and armour, carpets and textiles, coins and glassware, jewellery, calligraphy, manuscripts and miniatures, metalwork, stone and stucco, woodwork and ivory. There’s an ongoing programme of research and publication, and DAI has a good track record of loaning pieces to exhibitions outside Kuwait.
Some of them have made their way to Sharjah before; the Museum of Islamic Civilization hosted the Islamic Art & Patronage exhibition: Treasures from Kuwait in 2008.
This follow-on focuses on the art craftsmanship of jewellery and precious stones from the Timurid and Mughal empires onwards. The Mughal rulers of India (1526–1858) in particular maintained a court that was renowned for its wealth, high culture, and love of precious objects, all of which were reflected in the jewelled arts of the period – and which are well represented in the exhibition.
We think the earliest piece is probably the so-called Timur Ruby, a large gemstone (in fact it’s a spinel, not an actual ruby) roughly teardrop shaped and inscribed in calligraphic style with the names of six rulers – the earliest (and most prominent) being Ulugh Beg, grandson of Amir Timur (Tamerlane), dated before his death in 1449 CE. Its back story is predictably fascinating …
Another highlight, a masterpiece of precision jewellery work that is often cited as an example of technical excellence, is an archery ring attributed to the Mongol emperor Shah Jahan and dated to the mid 17th century. It’s fabricated from gold, champlevé-enamelled (the enamel is in areas carved out of the metal) and encrusted with rubies and turquoises using the kundan technique (carefully shaped gemstones are set into an exquisitely designed pure gold base).
The arms on show are also impressive. Luxury weapons made for the Mughal courts reached new heights of refinement, elegance, and craftsmanship in the jewelled arts. This sumptuously jewelled dagger and scabbard was probably made in the court workshops of the Mughal emperor Jahangir; dated to around 1615–1620, it features ivory, gold, rubies, precious and semi-precious stones – as well as steel, of course.
Ceremonial daggers weren’t intended for actual use, though no doubt they could be deployed in extremis. The saddle axe, however, could be a more functional weapon; it was kept under or next to the saddle, convenient for hand-to-hand combat, and because it didn’t need to be worn and therefore visible it don’t need the same kind of elaborate jewelled decoration that a dagger would get. But the craftsmen still took the opportunity to exhibit their skills – notably in this case the technique of damascening, overlaying one metal (gold, in this example) on to another (steel). The shaft is particularly detailed.
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