WALLACE COLLECTION Oriental Room, London UK
 

For those who have not had a chance to see a Wallace Collection, here is a brief photo guide of it's splendid Oriental room. As evident by the quality and expert compilation of various weapons - it's a real treat for any collector. Needless to say, the Collection has an amazing array of European arms and armour (3 more rooms), paintings and other works of art. The arms in Oriental room are mostly Indian, but there are plenty of Persian, Turkish and some Caucasian specimens. Hope you'll enjoy the pictures. As you know the full catalogue is planned to be published, but it may be a while until done.

looks like they ran out of wall-paper by the ceiling, so had to cover it with something.... :p
also, one of the most amazing blades on display....

Incredible, I will certainly pop in for a look when I am next in London.

Thanks for that! :)

Thanks so much for posting these magnificent examples...breathtaking!! :o

Thank you very much for posting these. Truly breathtaking.

Thank you sooooo much for the pictures - some great stuff. :)

Wish I could visit there.. :( (wish I had some of that stuff!)

Wow:eek:...Amazing collection...fantastic quality and quantity!!!

Got me curious so I had to look up more about the museum:
http://www.wallacecollection.org/thecollection

Thanks Alex!

Thanks Alex, I echo the comments above!! Only 12000 miles away...might just drop in over the weekend ;) :shrug: ........but then dreams are free.

OMG
 

Thanks for all your comments !!! I am so glad you liked the pictures:-) I remember my reaction when I first walked in:-) ... I still cannot contain it every time I see it:-). I know some are unable to visit in person, and so many other world-class collections, public and private. this is why we have this community and share our passion and knowledge with each other.
I'll take more pictures, and will be happy to snap and send closeups/details of any particular item.... I'll be there again tomorrow:-)

Fantastic! Thank you for sharing. If there are any Chinese/Tibetan/SE Asian items in the collection it would be great to see a few pictures.

Two words: kukris please!
I've always wanted to see the Wallace Collection, but your pictures make me realize just how much I'm missing. Maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket today.

OMG! What an amazing collection, thank you so much for the pics :D

I put my keyboard away before opening this thread; it was a wise decision .

My Sweet Lord !!!! :eek:

There is a published catalog (1964) of the collection, but it contains no photos. There are a few Chinese things, but mostly decorative items. There is a sword and an officer's helmet and ding jia "tunic."

I don't think there is any Tibetan stuff, but there's a Bhutanese "dirk" and musket.

There are some Burmese and Indonesian items.

Pleaase take snaps of the Seringapatam pieces while you are there. Thanks.

Wallace Collection
 

A wonderful collection,and thank you for sharing the photos.I was able to visit London several years ago,and enjoyed the Oriental room.
I was surprised to see a keris too.
Has the back armoury reopened yet?

"The Wallace Collection is a national museum which displays the wonderful works of art collected in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the son of the 4th Marquess. It was bequeathed to the British nation by Sir Richard's widow, Lady Wallace, in 1897."

Damm, I wish I had a Uncle like that...and I his favorite Nephew who he remembered in his will :p

Absolutely Stunning... After looking through those pictures, I had to go console my collection just to reassure them that at least they're special to me.

:-)
 

:) I too have had to do the same....

:p

round two
 

G'day Alex,

Did you get to do a second round photo journey.

Gav

Here are a few more pictures. Not many Asian arms, but a few very interesting and very fine ones. I'll post another series of Turkish weapons next.

more...

More ... ... ...

Thank you
 

Thank you Alex, your a gentleman, I look forward to the next visual feast.
Nice to see some other arms, China, Nepal, Bhutan etc, very nice actually.

Gav

Mmmm... Delicious :)
Thank you Alex for the feast!

Thank you Alex for the time taken in taking & sharing these.

Truly stunning pieces.

Spiral

Alex, we are all greatly indebted to you for sharing these remarkable works of art with us. My sincerest thanks.
Berkley

Thanks Alex for taking the time to photograph so many wonderful pieces and sharing a wide variety of them. The pictures are very good and clear and highlight both the quality and fine details of these pieces. A take away for me is to see superb 18th and 19th century weapons where the gold koftgari is absolutely pristine. No wear or anything. If we were to see an Indian sword these days in this kind of condition we might question the authenticity of the gold work but as we can see here, if an item is carefully kept all these years the goldwork can remain in "as new" condition. Absolutely wonderful!

Hungry
 

I am hungry for more Alex, how goes your next series of pics?

Best

Gav

O.A.1873
 

What a fabulous photo of one of my favorite items in the Wallace collection! The reflections of the windows really bring the ambiance of this museum back to me - and I visit these galleries every time I visit London.

This sword is briefly discussed in: Oakeshott, R. Ewart, "Old Wine in New Bottles," Park Lane Arms Fair Catalogue 8 (1991), p. 18 - 21. Mr. Oakeshott dates the hilt as c. 1690 and the blade as a century earlier (the catalog dates it as possibly early 15th century); much of Mr. Oakeshott's discussion is centered upon the incompletely resolved question of whether the blade is of Spanish or German origin. The catalog describes the blade as 37 1/2 inches in length by 2 1/2 inches width at the hilt.

Even though much of the collection is ultra-richly decorated early 19th century, Wallace's buyers also acquired some really fine earlier examples!

There are a number of really fine European medieval swords in the next room...

hi went recently, i must have been in there for about 4 hours, although the first hour was spent trying to pick jaw back up off the floor

some pics of my own unfortunately nowhere near as good as the ones above..

One of the worlds finest collections for sure.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6620/img0684v.jpg

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9120/img0662zo.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4720/img0663rv.jpg

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/213/img0654c.jpg

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/215/img0682w.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8787/img0664h.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/7781/img0685q.jpg

carlitobrigante, thanks for the additional photos....disappointed though...no Dha? Love to plan a trip to the UK sometime... allot of nice arms collections there....

Holy man! I just saw the 2nd set of pictures Alex took on the 1st page...the pieces from China, Tibet, Butan and more Indo/Ceyon pieces... :eek: wow...wow...wow...Wallace had some fantastic taste!!! Stunning craftsmanship!

hi mate, now i think about it there wasnt a single dha there that i remember seeing?

If you think the pics are good wait till you go in the flesh, i went in on a weekday morning and pretty much had the whole exhibit to myself.

Went afterwards to the British museum which was just as awe inspiring.

Next visit will be to the Victoria & Albert museum and the tower armourys..

Great pictures. Especially love the yataghans - that one covered in gems is gorgeous!

Hi Alex,

Thanks so much for sharing - Wonderful photos.

Cheers
Chris

Salaams Alex ~ Your pictures of the Wallace are superb and I hope you don't mind if I cross reference this thread to others for example the Kastane, Tulvar etc etc and by way of a thread bump.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Excellent photos. I know from experience that this isn't the easiest place to shoot due to the low light and reflections.

I'll take a look through my last set of photos and see if any I have compliment the above, although I fear the quality may not be comparable.

Regards

Steve