Ancient, armed Indian from Kabul

Aqtai · 22nd May 2005, 09:00 PM

The picture was scanned from a postcard I bought from the V&A in 1999

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I've just had a look in G.C. Stone's 'Glossary of...". In India armour made of a mixture of mail and brass links was called Ganga Jamni. Stone also points out that armour of this type was invariably unrivetted, which reduces it's efficacy somewhat.

On the subject of Orientalist painting and drawing, many artists tended to mix together armour and clothing from different times and places for maximum visual impact. So the hypothesis that this is a composite figure based on several pieces in The Tzarcoe-Selo collection is probably true.

One of my favorite orientalist paintings is the 'Nubian Guard' by Ludwig Deutsch. This shows a Nubian standing outside what look the doors of the mosque of Sultan Barquq in Cairo. This 'Guard' is wearing a kulah khud, a mail shirt, a red 'abaya, and has a Caucasian khindjal and a pistol thrust through some kind of leather sash. To top it off he appears to be holding an Ottoman standard! The picture is beautiful, but obviously accuracy is not high on Deutsch's agenda, nor was on most Orientalist artists agendas, with the exceptions of David Roberts and Prisse D'Avennes.

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22nd May 2005, 09:00 PM	#20
Aqtai Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Merseyside, UK Posts: 222	The picture was scanned from a postcard I bought from the V&A in 1999 . I've just had a look in G.C. Stone's 'Glossary of...". In India armour made of a mixture of mail and brass links was called Ganga Jamni. Stone also points out that armour of this type was invariably unrivetted, which reduces it's efficacy somewhat. On the subject of Orientalist painting and drawing, many artists tended to mix together armour and clothing from different times and places for maximum visual impact. So the hypothesis that this is a composite figure based on several pieces in The Tzarcoe-Selo collection is probably true. One of my favorite orientalist paintings is the 'Nubian Guard' by Ludwig Deutsch. This shows a Nubian standing outside what look the doors of the mosque of Sultan Barquq in Cairo. This 'Guard' is wearing a kulah khud, a mail shirt, a red 'abaya, and has a Caucasian khindjal and a pistol thrust through some kind of leather sash. To top it off he appears to be holding an Ottoman standard! The picture is beautiful, but obviously accuracy is not high on Deutsch's agenda, nor was on most Orientalist artists agendas, with the exceptions of David Roberts and Prisse D'Avennes.