.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A notable and particularly beautiful characteristic found on this lot and the previous is the manner in which the chainmail is patterned using alternating iron, brass and copper rings. The joining of thousands of small and unwelded rings - over two-hundred thousand in the case of this lot - to form these precise repeat patterns was no doubt a painstaking task on the part of the armourer. Both helmets have a diamond lattice camail, or neckguard, of brass and iron consisting over over fifteen thousand rings. The mail trousers are similarly decorated with zigzag patterning. The mail shirt again uses iron and brass to create a diamond lozenge pattern but here copper rings are also included as a trim. The use of contrasting metals in the chainmail is a technique termed ‘Ganga-Jamuna’ – so-called because the two colours are meant to represent the confluence of the Ganges and Jamuna, India’s two most sacred rivers.
A number of comparable pieces of armour with Sikh provenance employ this same decorative technique. A helmet with a ‘Ganga-Jamuna’ camail in the Royal Armouries was by tradition worn by Ranjit Singh himself (acc. no. XXVIA.36). This helmet is displayed as part of the assembled suit already mentioned in the Royal Armouries Collection which also includes finely decorated mail shirt and trousers of repeat diamond design similar to ours.
A group of Sikh ‘turban’ helmets with a similar contrasting camail are known. One is published in Lord Egerton of Tatton, Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour, London, 1896, p. 134, fig. 33, and one in each of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco (acc. 1998.69), Wallace Collection (inv. OA1769) and the Toor Collection (Davinder Toor, In Pursuit of Empire, Treasures from the Toor Collection of Sikh Art, London, 2018, pp. 128-29).. A coif armour dated to 1840 previously acquired by Lord Dalhousie is in the Toor Collection (Davinder Toor, pp. 232-3.) and a further two mail shirts are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 36.25.57 and acc. no. 36.25.22a). A mail shirt with iron, copper and brass ‘Ganga-Jamuna’ decoration was sold at Bonhams, London, 25 October 2022, lot 148.
An intriguing and rare feature found on the plate and mail armour is the wicker bracelet on the right armguard (dastana). The woven bracelet has a fine chevron pattern which relates to the patterns found elsewhere in the suits and the abrasion visible beneath the bracelet on the surface of the guard itself suggests this to be an original accessory. Only occurring on the right hand, the sword hand, suggests that this bracelet was intended to keep the armguard firmly shut and act as insurance against the armour coming loose during combat.
A number of comparable pieces of armour with Sikh provenance employ this same decorative technique. A helmet with a ‘Ganga-Jamuna’ camail in the Royal Armouries was by tradition worn by Ranjit Singh himself (acc. no. XXVIA.36). This helmet is displayed as part of the assembled suit already mentioned in the Royal Armouries Collection which also includes finely decorated mail shirt and trousers of repeat diamond design similar to ours.
A group of Sikh ‘turban’ helmets with a similar contrasting camail are known. One is published in Lord Egerton of Tatton, Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour, London, 1896, p. 134, fig. 33, and one in each of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco (acc. 1998.69), Wallace Collection (inv. OA1769) and the Toor Collection (Davinder Toor, In Pursuit of Empire, Treasures from the Toor Collection of Sikh Art, London, 2018, pp. 128-29).. A coif armour dated to 1840 previously acquired by Lord Dalhousie is in the Toor Collection (Davinder Toor, pp. 232-3.) and a further two mail shirts are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 36.25.57 and acc. no. 36.25.22a). A mail shirt with iron, copper and brass ‘Ganga-Jamuna’ decoration was sold at Bonhams, London, 25 October 2022, lot 148.
An intriguing and rare feature found on the plate and mail armour is the wicker bracelet on the right armguard (dastana). The woven bracelet has a fine chevron pattern which relates to the patterns found elsewhere in the suits and the abrasion visible beneath the bracelet on the surface of the guard itself suggests this to be an original accessory. Only occurring on the right hand, the sword hand, suggests that this bracelet was intended to keep the armguard firmly shut and act as insurance against the armour coming loose during combat.