Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King - glittering remnants of an empire
Illustration: Maharaja Ranjit Singh (r. 1799-1839) with hjis favourite, Raja Hira Singh (1818-1844), attending as a cup-bearer, c. 1835-1838 © Toor Collection
Daniel Nelson
The yawning gap between those who raise ethical questions about museum exhibits and those who see only value-free objects devoid of political or social context caused uncomfortable ripples at the media preview of Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King.
A journalist at the preview of the exhibition at the Wallace Collection in London suggested that the co-curators had failed to address whether the show was a celebration of “theft and colonial booty”.
His question provoked angry murmurings from other critics, who were basically calling for the questioner to shut up.
“Look at the stuff!” snapped one woman, implying that the show’s objects were simply objects and that how they had been acquired was of no consequence.
Guest curator Davinder Toor, a leading Sikh art scholar and collector, later emphasised that many of the works on display initially left India for a complex variety of reasons, including as gifts and trade, as well as a result of plunder or surreptitious mementoes.
The irritated critic who did not want awkward moral dilemmas to spoil her art-for-art’s sake viewing was right in one sense - the “stuff” in this magnificent show is indeed worth looking at.
One of the most unexpected delights is an extraordinary “turban fortress” with a steel centerpiece, razor-sharp weapons and a sprouting dark-blue cloth representing a battle standard.
Other delights include delicate Indian miniature paintings, a gold-and-gemstone sword, an emerald girdle (originally fixed to a horse’s harness), a golden throne.
Sikh weapons — armour, a shield decorated with portraits, gold-decorated quoits (hurled at enemies like deadly frisbees), swords — are given a section of their own. They are so lovingly made that the exhibition could have been called The Beauty of War.
The exhibition is also a fascinating history lesson, throwing up little-known titbits such as the role played in Sikh armies by former Napoleonic Generals. It vividly illustrates the fluid political, religious and cultural influences of Indian, Afghan and British power (and of East India Company activities). Equally striking is the rapidity of the rise and fall of Ranjit Singh’s empire.
Much is made of the Sikhs’ transition “from sparrows to hawks” and the rise of martial culture and a cosmopolitanism empire. The one-eyed warrior king’s fighting skills, courage, guile and tolerance are lauded to such an extent (he topped a BBC World Histories magazine poll as the greatest leader of all time) that the Daily Telegraph’s review argues that “this exhibition is overly enamoured with its subject”.
You might have to stoop to read some of the captions. Use the audio guide. It’s a Sikh gem of a show.
+ Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King, £16/£12/£7, is at the Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN, until 20 October. Info: Exhibition
17 April, An Introduction to Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King, Xavier Bray and Devinder Toor, online, 6.30-7.30pm, £9
8, 15, 22 May, Life Stories: Ranjit Singh, Sâqib Bâburî, online, 6-8pm, £57-£60 for all three
23 May, Sikh Contemporary Art: Influence and Legacies, Devinder Toor, Jatinder Singh Durhailay, Keerat Kaur and Nep Sidhu, 6.30-7.30pm, in-person £15/£16 and online £9