Editor’s Note
A pair of historically significant pistols belonging to Tipu Sultan, the 18th-century ruler of Mysore, has sold at auction for £1.1 million, far exceeding its pre-sale estimate. The weapons, captured by British forces in 1799, highlight the enduring market interest in artifacts from the colonial era.
A pair of silver-mounted flintlock pistols belonging to Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, has been sold for £1.1 million to a private collector at a London auction, fetching nearly 14 times its estimated price. The pistols, valued at approximately 128,359,220 Indian rupees, were used by Tipu Sultan in battles against the British. They were captured from his treasury in 1799 during the siege of Seringapatam by the East India Company, an engagement in which the Sultan died and many of his valuable arms were taken to Britain.
The auction catalogue noted that Tipu Sultan’s pistols were often made in a ‘mirror’ design—one with a left-handed lock and the other with a right-handed lock. It is said the Sultan particularly favored this combination and displayed them at his public courts. In addition to the pistols, another silver-mounted flintlock ‘blunderbuss’ or ‘bookmar’ gun made for Tipu Sultan sold for £571,500.
The auction, titled ‘Arts of the Islamic World and India,’ realized over £10 million in total, with historic Indian artifacts fetching prices far above estimates. Apart from Tipu Sultan’s pistols, a detailed painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh set new records at this week’s London auction. The painting of the 19th-century Sikh emperor sold for £952,500.
This painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is a new record in the field of Sikh art and was purchased by an institution. Artist Bishan Singh depicted him in a procession passing through a Lahore market. The auction house Sotheby’s catalogue described the painting as a “beautiful and finely executed glimpse” showing the Maharaja riding an elephant through a Lahore market. The grand scene includes his court, attendants with fly-whisks and parasols, a falconer, and carriages drawn by horses and camels, featuring his son Sher Singh, a courtesan, and his religious and political advisors Bhai Ram Singh and Raja Gulab Singh.
The catalogue further explains that in the foreground of the painting, ascetics and street performers try to attract the Maharaja’s attention, while craftsmen, kite makers, and shopkeepers are busy at work in the background. The first lot of the auction was a rare late-16th-century Quran manuscript from Mughal Emperor Akbar’s library, which sold for £863,600 after a 15-minute bidding war.
Other significant items related to India included a set of albums containing paintings of 52 Indian costumes, which had been in the same family for 225 years. It sold for £609,600. A Mughal-era jade-hilted dagger with a horse-head-shaped pommel and its scabbard sold for £406,400, while a 17th-century Indian painting of ‘Elephants at Play in a Mountain Lake’ was auctioned for £139,700. According to Sotheby’s, 20% of buyers in this week’s auction were new. Bidders from 25 countries, including India, participated in the auction.