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Lot Essay
The inscription in devanagari script on the back of one of the plates bears the name of Maharaja Anup Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner (d. 1698) and numerals which could give a date.
This coat of mail can be compared to a few known examples that have similar plates and buckles: one is in the Nasser D. Khalili collection, and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (no. MTW 1155, D. Alexander, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Arts, The Arts of War, London, 1992, pp. 160-62, fig. 100 and no. 2000.497, Arms and Armours, Notable Acquisitions, 1991-2002, The Metropolitan Museum, 2002, p. 41, ill. 37). A third and a fourth similar example were sold at Sotheby's, 16 October 2002, lot 64 and Christie's South Kensington, 8 April 2011, lot 432.
Mail coats from this group all bear inscriptions naming Maharaja Anup Singh and indicate that they entered the armoury after being taken as booty. Anup Singh was a general in the army of Aurangzeb and is known to have led a series of victorious military campaigns in the Deccan in the 1680s and 1690s. The mail coat in the Khalili collection indicates in an inscription that it was taken during the siege of Adoni in 1689 where the 'Adilshahi dynasty was defeated. Therefore, it is most likely that this group of armours was produced in Bijapur, the then capital of 'Adilshahi dynasty.
This coat of mail can be compared to a few known examples that have similar plates and buckles: one is in the Nasser D. Khalili collection, and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (no. MTW 1155, D. Alexander, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Arts, The Arts of War, London, 1992, pp. 160-62, fig. 100 and no. 2000.497, Arms and Armours, Notable Acquisitions, 1991-2002, The Metropolitan Museum, 2002, p. 41, ill. 37). A third and a fourth similar example were sold at Sotheby's, 16 October 2002, lot 64 and Christie's South Kensington, 8 April 2011, lot 432.
Mail coats from this group all bear inscriptions naming Maharaja Anup Singh and indicate that they entered the armoury after being taken as booty. Anup Singh was a general in the army of Aurangzeb and is known to have led a series of victorious military campaigns in the Deccan in the 1680s and 1690s. The mail coat in the Khalili collection indicates in an inscription that it was taken during the siege of Adoni in 1689 where the 'Adilshahi dynasty was defeated. Therefore, it is most likely that this group of armours was produced in Bijapur, the then capital of 'Adilshahi dynasty.