Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King at the Wallace Collection, London

In early October I headed to London to attend a couple of exhibitions, one of which was this exploration of the life of Ranjit Singh. I’m on the Wallace Collection‘s email list and it sounded like an interesting exhibition on a subject I know nothing about though I’m not sure I knew a great deal more than I did before. I’ve been to a few paid exhibitions at the Wallace Collection now and while they have interesting items on display I never feel they go into a great deal of depth about the subject matter. Still, I did learn more while researching this post so I suppose that’s something!

Born in what is now the Punjab region of Pakistan, Ranjit Singh was the son of a chief of a warring misl (confederacy). As a child he caught smallpox which left him blind in one eye and he was also orphaned at a young age. He won his first major battle at 16 and when he was 21 he seized Lahore and was anointed Maharaja; by the time he died in 1839 his Sikh Empire stretched from the Khyber Pass to the borders of Tibet.

On display were selections of armour including these quoits that would have been spun on the finger and thrown into a crowd. They would have been stored ready for action on warrior turbans like this. Certainly nothing I had ever seen before.

There were also some impressive jewels, the most striking being this horse harness made of emeralds.

I also really liked this intricate quiver and arrows that dates from the 19th century and was presented by a Sikh chief to William Fraser, a British official in India.

Most impressive of all was this golden throne, normally in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which Singh probably didn’t actually use himself.

It had some nice items on display but I feel like I only spent about half an hour there. Much as I love the Wallace Collection (which is free to enter) I’m not sure I’ll be all that inclined to do one of their paid exhibitions again.