Lot 53
53
A RARE TALPUR HALF-SUIT OF MASKED ARMOUR
A RARE TALPUR HALF-SUIT OF MASKED ARMOUR
A RARE TALPUR HALF-SUIT OF MASKED ARMOUR
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A RARE TALPUR HALF-SUIT OF MASKED ARMOUR
4 More
ARMS AND ARMOUR FROM THE COLLECTION OF HOWARD RICKETTS
A RARE TALPUR HALF-SUIT OF MASKED ARMOUR

KUTCH OR SINDH, INDIA, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details
A RARE TALPUR HALF-SUIT OF MASKED ARMOUR
KUTCH OR SINDH, INDIA, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Comprising a helmet with mask, shoulder-length shirt and pair of vambraces with integral gauntlets, each component consisting of finely worked steel and copper alloy plates linked with riveted steel and copper alloy mail, the larger steel plates with openwork copper alloy plaques chased with floral designs, the smaller steel and copper alloy plates with simple punched designs
The helmet 20in. (51cm.) high; the vambraces 21 ¼in. (54cm.) long; the body armour 20in. (51cm.); the mask plate 5 ½in. (14 cm.); total height on mount 32in. (81.2cm.)
Provenance
Major A.D.F. White
Collection of Howard Ricketts, 1982
Literature
David Nicolle, Islamische Waffen, Graz, 1981, p.22
Exhibited
On long loan to HRH Tower of London, Royal Armouries, 1970s
National Army Museum, London, 1987
Birmingham Museum, 1995
Sale Room Notice
Please note that in addition to the exhibition history published in the printed catalogue, this suit of armour was on long loan at HRH The Tower of London, Royal armouries in the 1970s. Please also note that it entered the collection of Howard Ricketts in 1982.

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Lot Essay

This rare half-armour forms part of a small group of luxurious armour sets produced at the Talpur court in Sindh in the late 18th or early 19th century. The use of steel and copper alloy on both plates and mail and the very fine floral patterns on the plates combine to create an impressive visual effect suitable for a court environment. Likely made for a royal guard, an assembly of soldiers dressed in such armour would have communicated both the great wealth and the martial prowess of their patron.

Only a handful of these distinctive Talpur armours with masks survive. Two are in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Vienna (3149-54, 31555-8), only one of which retains its plate mask. Another with its mask intact was formerly in the collection of Samuel Meyrick (1783-1848) and is now in the Museo Stibbert, Florence (7544; for its known provenance, see David Alexander, Islamic Arms and Armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2015, p.55). One with a mail rather than plate mask is in the Stone Bequest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (36.25.11a-g), and a half armour is in the Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Krakow (Zdzislaw Zygulski, Stara broń w polskich zbiorach, Warsaw, 1982, pp. 226-7, no. 233). A comparable half armour formerly in the collection of Prince Charles, Count of Flanders and regent of Belgium, was sold in these Rooms, 29 October 1986, lot 240.

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