Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
Property from the Mohammed Khalil Collection
Lot 143*
A rare 'Ganja-jamuna' mail suit reputedly from the armoury of Maharao Raja Ram Singh of Bundi (reg. 1821-1889) Rajasthan, India, circa 1860
12 November 2024, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£20,000 - £30,000
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Oliver White
Head of Department
A rare 'Ganja-jamuna' mail suit reputedly from the armoury of Maharao Raja Ram Singh of Bundi (reg. 1821-1889)
Rajasthan, India, circa 1860
Rajasthan, India, circa 1860
comprising a coif, coat and breeches made with interlinked copper and brass rings creating a zig zag pattern, the coif surmounted by a brass plume holder, a brass plaque to the lower part of shirt with inscription in nagari
the coat 65 cm from nape to hem; the breeches 103 cm from waist to point
the coat 65 cm from nape to hem; the breeches 103 cm from waist to point
Footnotes
Provenance
Maharao Raja Ram Singh of Bundi (1811-1889) according to the brass plaque on the coat.
Auctions Imperial, Arms and Armour, 16 March 2014, lot 0500.
The Mohammed Khalil Collection.
Published
M. K. Ibrahim, Islamic Arms and Armour, Vol. II, United Arab Emirates, 2022, p. 749, cat. no. 597.
Inscriptions: 'Shri Maharav Raja Ram Sinh ji Sahib Bahadur Bundi'
This fine mail suit was produced from thousands of unusually small and unwelded rings resulting in an extremely flexible and light piece of armour. The use of contrasting metal rings is a technique known as 'Ganga-Jamuna' - the contrasting colours representing the churning waters at the confluence of two of India's most sacred rivers, the Ganges and the Yamuna. Though this example bears a brass plaque with the name of the Maharao Raja Ram Singh of Bundi (reg. 1821-1889), many items of mail armour in two colours were produced for Sikh patrons. A Sikh turban helmet produced in Lahore with a camail bearing a lozenge design is published in Lord Egerton, Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour, London 1896, p. 134, fig. 33. Another set of armour with lozenged mail is also mentioned as having been "worn at the court of Ranjit Singh" (p. 134, no. 703). A helmet with a camail of iron and brass rings in the Royal Armouries in Leeds is believed to have been worn personally by Ranjit Singh (acc. no. XXVIA.36). A Lahore mail coif armour using the same technique acquired by Lord Dalhousie following the annexation of the Punjab is now in the Toor Collection and is dated to circa 1840 (see Davinder Toor, In Pursuit of Empire, Treasures from the Toor Collection of Sikh Art, London, 2018, pp. 232-3.) Two further examples of mail shirts are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Acc. Nos. 36.25.57 and 36.25.22a).