Maharaja’s Installation: Silver Carriage (Postscript)
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Postscript: Curator Stephen Inglis and Interpretative Planner Shiralee Hudson Hill ask me to take a few more pictures of the landau.
Stephen, points out this bulldog, hidden by the undercarriage.
“It’s mind-blowing,” he says.
It turns out the carriage maker, The Fort Coach Company, was owned by Pestonjee B. Press. He had studied at the J. J. School of Art in Bombay and began building coaches in 1878. He eventually built coaches for the British Governors of Bombay.
The work on this 1915 carriage for the Maharaja of Bhavnagar pays homage to India’s silverwork heritage as well as the Art Nouveau movement in Europe (the enamel work is evidence of that).
Shiralee was particularly intrigued by the greyhounds that adorn the carriage rather than the expected tigers and elephants.
What caught my eye was this beautiful scene of a lake with lotus flowers and hills in the distance. You can see the blue enameled flowers beneath it.
For Stephen, the allure of this piece is obvious. “It’s such a hybrid of design ideas; it’s truly within the global melange of the period.”
A week after I took my first pictures, the V&A folks are still polishing!
The silver carriage is full of surprises. On one door there looks like a sacred flame, aligned directly above the Maharaja’s coat of arms. Beneath it reads this line:
Manushya Yatna Ishwara Kripa
(Man’s Endeavour, God’s Grace)
There is much more to discover about this particular piece. You’ll see what I mean when the exhibition opens in just two weeks.
Piali Roy is a Toronto writer with a long-held interest in South Asian culture and history. You can contact her at yourvoice@ago.net.
Tags: Art Nouveau, Bhavnagar, carriage, landau, silver, V & A