May

The world’s foremost museum of decorative arts, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, was originally founded in 1842. It later became home to the India Museum, which was established in 1799 by the East India Company. The collection of the Asian Department includes material from Punjab, dating from the 16th to the 19th Centuries.

From paintings, textiles, rare photographs, arms and armor, to the spectacular Golden Throne of Ranjit Singh, the museum reflects the wealth of Sikh heritage and culture that resides in Britain today. The Golden Throne of Ranjit Singh was made by the goldsmith Hafez Muhammed Multani in 1818, which was the year when Multani finally fell to the Sikhs; it is likely that the throne was commissioned to mark the event.

The court of Ranjit Singh was then in Lahore, and the throne is traditionally associated with that city, where it was found upon the annexation of Punjab in 1849. It was immediately shipped to London in 1853 for the East India Company’s museum, and was later transferred to the South Kensington museum, renamed Victoria and Albert, where it has remained ever since.

“By sheer force of mind, personal energy, and courage he has established his throne on a firmer foundation than that of any other eastern sovereign, and but for the watchful jealousy of the British government, would long have added Sind if not Afghanistan, to his present kingdom.

He rules with a rod of iron, it is true; but in justice to him it must be stated that except in actual open warfare he has never been known to take life, though his own has been attempted more than once, and his reign will be found freer from any striking acts of cruelty and oppression than those of many more civilised monarchs.”

W. G. Osborne, Military Secretary to the Governor General of India on Maharajah Ranjit Singh