London: A rare comprehensive exhibition on a treasure trove of Indian royals and their lifestyle will be organised at the famous Victoria and Albert Museum here.
The exhibition titled 'Maharaja: The Splendour of India's
Royal Courts', which will run from October 10 this year to
January 17, 2010, will bring together over 250 magnificent
objects, many on loan to the UK for the first time from
India's royal collections.
Beth McKillop, Keeper, Asian Department of V&A Museum,
told newsmen today the exhibition would include three thrones,
a silver gilt howdah, gem-encrusted weapons, court paintings,
photographs, a Rolls Royce, Indian turban jewels and jewellery
commissioned from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels in the 20th
century.
The exhibition, which took two-and-half years to put
together, would be later on moved to Germany and the USA where
there is a great interest among the people about "Indian
Maharajas", McKillop told reporters.
It will tour to Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung,
Munich, Germany from February 12 to May 23, 2010.
The exhibition will cover the period from the 18th
century when the great era of the maharajas began to the end
of British rule in 1947.
It will show the changing role of the maharajas in a
historical and social context and look at how their patronage
of the arts both in India and Europe resulted in splendid and
beautiful commissions designed to enhance royal status and
identity.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 21:41