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On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Sword

ca. 1800 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This jewelled sword with original scabbard once belonged to Maharaja Malhar Rao Holkar III of Indore (1806-1833). The parasol, an emblem of kingship, overlaid in gold on the blade indicates that it was a royal weapon. The gold hilt is embellished with 276 diamonds, 378 rubies and 38 emeralds.

On 21 December 1817, British forces under the command of Sir Thomas Hislop (1764-1843) attacked the Holkar army which was led by the 11-year-old Maharaja and his elder sister Bhima Bai Holkar (1795-1858). Aided by a traitor in the Holkar camp, the British were victorious. The sword was seized, with other treasures, from the Holkar cavalry and after some debate was presented to John Malcolm (1769-1833), who was Hislop’s political agent and had commanded a division of the British troops in the battle. Under the subsequent Treaty of Mandsour, signed on 6 January 1818, Indore lost its independence and came under indirect control of the British.

The V&A bought the sword for £150 in 1888 from a Miss Malcolm, with the information: ‘The sword was taken from the Maharajah Holkar at the battle of Mehidpor in 1817 and presented by the army (with the permission of the Government) to Sir John Malcolm’. Miss Catherine Malcolm (1815-1891) was the youngest daughter of Sir John Malcom.


Object details

Category
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Sword
  • Sword Scabbard
Materials and techniques
steel, gold, diamonds, emeralds, rubies.
Brief description
Sword, Indore, ca. 1800.
Physical description
Sword with metal hilt entirely covered with sheet gold and set with rubies, emeralds and diamonds; the curved watered steel blade polished bright; gold overlaid parasol on one side of the blade beneath the hilt.
Dimensions
  • Is.24 1888 length: 94.5cm
  • Width: 120mm
  • Depth: 90mm
  • Is.24 a 1888 length: 83.5cm
Object history
Bought by the museum for £150 from Miss Malcolm. Catherine Malcolm (1815-1891) was the youngest daughter of Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833), and in 1888 was living at 87 Sloane Street (information supplied by John Malcolm, 10/10/2013).
Summary
This jewelled sword with original scabbard once belonged to Maharaja Malhar Rao Holkar III of Indore (1806-1833). The parasol, an emblem of kingship, overlaid in gold on the blade indicates that it was a royal weapon. The gold hilt is embellished with 276 diamonds, 378 rubies and 38 emeralds.

On 21 December 1817, British forces under the command of Sir Thomas Hislop (1764-1843) attacked the Holkar army which was led by the 11-year-old Maharaja and his elder sister Bhima Bai Holkar (1795-1858). Aided by a traitor in the Holkar camp, the British were victorious. The sword was seized, with other treasures, from the Holkar cavalry and after some debate was presented to John Malcolm (1769-1833), who was Hislop’s political agent and had commanded a division of the British troops in the battle. Under the subsequent Treaty of Mandsour, signed on 6 January 1818, Indore lost its independence and came under indirect control of the British.

The V&A bought the sword for £150 in 1888 from a Miss Malcolm, with the information: ‘The sword was taken from the Maharajah Holkar at the battle of Mehidpor in 1817 and presented by the army (with the permission of the Government) to Sir John Malcolm’. Miss Catherine Malcolm (1815-1891) was the youngest daughter of Sir John Malcom.


Bibliographic references
  • Jackson, Anna and Jaffer, Amin (eds), with Deepika Ahlawat. Maharaja : the splendour of India's royal courts. London, V&A Publishing, 2009. ISBN.9781851775736 (hbk.), ISBN.1851775730 (hbk.). Plate 7, page 17 Sword and scabbard Susan Stronge and Roger Harding, "The Sword of the Maharaja Holkar", Orientations, February 1988, pp. 46-49 Roger R. Harding and Susan H [sic]. Stronge, "The gemstones in a Maharajah's sword", Journal of Gemmology, 21, 1, 1988, pp. 3-7
  • Jackson, Anna and Ji Wei (eds.) with Rosemary Crill, Ainsley M. Cameron and Nicholas Barnard, compiled by the Palace Museum, translated by Yuan Hong, Qi Yue and Liu Ran. The Splendour of India' Royal Courts : Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Beijing: the Forbidden City Publishing House, 2013. Text in English and Chinese. ISBN 9787513403917. pps. 192-193
Collection
Accession number
IS.24A-1888

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Record createdJune 7, 2000
Record URL
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