Quilted Helmet from Tipu Sultan's Armoury

Quilted helmet taken from Seringapatam (Srirangapatnam), the fortress of Tipu Sultan, in AD 1799. Quilted helmet taken from Seringapatam (Srirangapatnam), the fortress of Tipu Sultan, in AD 1799.

In April 2015, Bonhams in London auctioned a collection of armoury originally taken from the fortress of Seringapatam (Srirangapatna), the last refuge of Tipu Sultan of Mysore, after the British-Indian army had taken the site in AD 1799.

Apart from a quilted helmet, the collection included sabres, gem-set trophy swords, embroidered arrow quivers, other exquisite quilted helmets, blunderbusses, fowling pieces, sporting guns, pistols, and a three-pounder bronze cannon. Many of these items were adorned with designs based on the image of the tigre, hence Tipu Sultan's nickname "the tiger of Mysore".

The quilted helmet is provided with a gold kaftgari (a form of Damascene work), steel nasal bar, inscribed with the names of Allah, Mohammed, Fatima, Ali, Hassan and Husain (clearly a reference to a Shi'ite origin). The decoration of the helmet includes gold thread embroidery on a red ground. There is also an interlocking shell design worked in metal thread on a blue ground. In the centre of each shell there is a single spangle

See also the saddle cloth, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, also reportedly from Tipu Sultan's armoury, and the quiver, arm guards and belt also auctioned at Bonhams.

Digital source (retrieved 19 December 2016).

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 19 December 2016).

WV

 

Last modified on Tuesday, 20 December 2016 18:56