Thursday, 8th April 2004 (4193 views)

Gold and jewelled artefacts looted from the Mughal treasury in Delhi in 1739 are currently on display in London.

The "Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands" exhibition at the Hermitage Rooms in London will run throughout the summer and includes two jewelled rose-water flasks made from gold and silver, a table set with more than 2,000 gemstones, a pair of gold bracelets and a small dish covered in jewels.

The treasures, looted by the ruler of the Iranian empire Nadir Shah in the 1700s, are on loan from the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Many of the looted items were later sent to the Tsars as diplomatic leverage.

A gold stand for an octagonal casket demonstrates the skill of the Indian goldsmiths of the period. The stand is encrusted over 1,000 precious stones, while the underside is decorated with a large central rosette from which eight bands with floral designs radiate, all worked in gold.

The exhibition consists of more than 60 items from St Petersburg and the Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art in London. The exhibits range in date from the 9th to the 19th century and cover an area stretching from Spain and the Arab world to Persia and the Indian sub-continent, NewKerala.com reports.

 

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