"Metalwork has always been to India what ceramics are to China. During the fabled Mughal age, the craftsmen of the Sultans and Rajahs of India produced an astonishing variety of objects in gold and gold enamel, silver, brass, bronze, gilt copper and the Deccani alloy known as bidri. The finest of these are among the most striking and poetic utilitarian wares ever made, in addition to being of the most outstanding technical refinement." "This, the first book on the metalwork of Mughal India, illustrates all the great surviving objects, the majority of which have never been published before and are unknown to the western connoisseur."--Jacket.
Annemarie Schimmel has written extensively on India, Islam and poetry. In this comprehensive study she presents an overview of the cultural, economic, militaristic and artistic attributes of the great Mughal Empire from 1526 to 1857.
White Mughals is the romantic and ultimately tragic tale of a passionate love affair that crossed and transcended all the cultural, religious and political boundaries of its time. James Achilles Kirkpatrick was the British Resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad when in 1798 he glimpsed Kahir un-Nissa—'Most excellent among Women'—the great-niece of the Nizam's Prime Minister and a descendant of the Prophet. Kirkpatrick had gone out to India as an ambitious soldier in the army of the East India Company, eager to make his name in the conquest and subjection of the subcontinent. Instead, he fell in love with Khair and overcame many obstacles to marry her—not least of which was the fact that she was locked away in purdah and engaged to a local nobleman. Eventually, while remaining Resident, Kirkpatrick converted to Islam, and according to Indian sources even became a double-agent working for the Hyderabadis against the East India Company. It is a remarkable story, involving secret assignations, court intrigue, harem politics, religious and family disputes. But such things were not unknown; from the early sixteenth century, when the Inquisition banned the Portuguese in Goa from wearing the dhoti, to the eve of the Indian mutiny, the 'white Mughals' who wore local dress and adopted Indian ways were a source of embarrassments to successive colonial administrations. William Dalrymple unearths such colourful figures as 'Hindoo Stuart', who travelled with his own team of Brahmins to maintain his temple of idols, and who spent many years trying to persuade the memsahibs of Calcutta to adopt the sari; and Sir David Ochterlony, Kirkpatrick's counterpart in Delhi, who took all thirteen of his wives out for evening promenades, each on the back of their own elephant. In White Mughals, William Dalrymple discovers a world almost entirely unexplored by history, and places at its centre a compelling tale of love, seduction and betrayal. It possesses all the sweep and resonance of a great nineteenth-century novel, set against a background of shifting alliances and the manoeuvring of the great powers, the mercantile ambitions of the British and the imperial dreams of Napoleon. White Mughals, the product of five years' writing and research, triumphantly confirms Dalrymple's reputation as one of the finest writers at work today.
James Achilles Kirkpatrick Landed On The Shores Of Eighteenth-Century India As An Ambitious Soldier Of The East India Company. Although Eager To Make His Name In The Subjection Of A Nation, It Was He Who Was Conquered Not By An Army But By A Muslim Indian Princess. Kirkpatrick Was The British Resident At The Court Of The Nizam Of Hyderabad When In 1798 He Glimpsed Khair Un-Nissa Most Excellent Among Women' The Great-Niece Of The Nizam'S Prime Minister. He Fell In Love With Khair, And Overcame Many Obstacles To Marry Her Not Least Of Which Was The Fact That She Was Locked Away In Purdah And Engaged To A Local Nobleman. Eventually, While Remaining Resident, Kirkpatrick Converted To Islam, And According To Indian Sources Even Became A Double-Agent Working For The Hyderabadis Against The East India Company. Possessing All The Sweep Of A Great Nineteenth-Century Novel, White Mughals Is A Remarkable Tale Of Harem Politics, Secret Assignations, Court Intrigue, Religious Disputes And Espionage.
India's rich heritage of jeweled artistry is expressed in extravagant and opulent creations that range from ornaments for every part of the body to ceremonial court objects such as boxes, daggers, and thrones. Treasures from India presents more than sixty iconic works from the renowned Al-Thani collection, including pieces created for the imperial Mughals in the seventeenth century, others made for the nizams of Hyderabad and the maharajas of the Rajput courts from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, Indian-inspired jewelry fashioned by Cartier and other Western firms, and contemporary designs. The lucid text discusses the significance of these objects within the history of Indian jeweled arts, demonstrating how they stand among the highest expressions of Indian culture.
Objects of Translation offers a nuanced approach to the entanglements of medieval elites in the regions that today comprise Afghanistan, Pakistan, and north India. The book--which ranges in time from the early eighth to the early thirteenth centuries--challenges existing narratives that cast the period as one of enduring hostility between monolithic "Hindu" and "Muslim" cultures. These narratives of conflict have generally depended upon premodern texts for their understanding of the past. By contrast, this book considers the role of material culture and highlights how objects such as coins, dress, monuments, paintings, and sculptures mediated diverse modes of encounter during a critical but neglected period in South Asian history. The book explores modes of circulation--among them looting, gifting, and trade--through which artisans and artifacts traveled, remapping cultural boundaries usually imagined as stable and static. It analyzes the relationship between mobility and practices of cultural translation, and the role of both in the emergence of complex transcultural identities. Among the subjects discussed are the rendering of Arabic sacred texts in Sanskrit on Indian coins, the adoption of Turko-Persian dress by Buddhist rulers, the work of Indian stone masons in Afghanistan, and the incorporation of carvings from Hindu and Jain temples in early Indian mosques. Objects of Translation draws upon contemporary theories of cosmopolitanism and globalization to argue for radically new approaches to the cultural geography of premodern South Asia and the Islamic world.
Muqarnas is sponsored by The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Muqarnas 26 contains articles on a variety of topics that span and transcend the geographic and temporal boundaries that have traditionally defined the history of Islamic art and architecture. Contributors include Robert McChesney, Mattia Guidetti, Marcus Schadl, Christian Gruber, Katia Cytryn-Silverman, Doris Abouseif, Olga Bush, Emine Fetvaci, Moya Carey, Bernard O'Kane, Hadi Maktabi, Nadia Erzini and Stephen Vernoit.
The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture is the most comprehensive reference work in this complex and diverse area of art history. Built on the acclaimed scholarship of the Grove Dictionary of Art, this work offers over 1,600 up-to-date entries on Islamic art and architecture ranging from the Middle East to Central and South Asia, Africa, and Europe and spans over a thousand years of history. Recent changes in Islamic art in areas such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq are elucidated here by distinguished scholars. Entries provide in-depth art historical and cultural information about dynasties, art forms, artists, architecture, rulers, monuments, archaeological sites and stylistic developments. In addition, over 500 illustrations of sculpture, mosaic, painting, ceramics, architecture, metalwork and calligraphy illuminate the rich artistic tradition of the Islamic world. With the fundamental understanding that Islamic art is not limited to a particular region, or to a defined period of time, The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture offers pathways into Islamic culture through its art.
This riveting tale of the Kohinoor, the worldÕs most coveted gem, unearths fascinating new information as it moves from the Mughal court to Persia to Afghanistan; from Maharaja Ranjit Singh's durbar in Punjab to the Queen of England's Crown. A thrilling tale, full of violence, drama and intrigue.
