arm-guard (bazuband)
Summary
Pair of vambrace/gauntlets made of finely damascended steel with rich gold borders featuring a pipel flower motif, with a hinged wrist-guard at the narrower end. The gloves are made of fine steel and brass chain mail lined with velvet. The gauntlets are held in place with green knitted straps, and the sides of the gloves are trimmed with the same green knitted fabric. According to Egerton the gauntlets belonged to 'Kurruck Singh'. This may have been Khurruck Singh, a disciple of Bhai Maharaj Singh (d. 1856), who led an anti-British movement in the Punjab after the first Anglo-Sikh war in 1845 Sikh arms and armour share many technical and formal features with the Islamic arms used in Iran and throughout Northern India. Collected by Earl Egerton in 1855. Gauntlets belonged to Kurruck Singh - is this Khurruck Singh, a disciple of Bhai Maharaj Singh who was a distinguished military leader? Colonel Yule, who proofed Earl Egerton's catalogue attempted to standardize the spellings.
Display Label
Sikh Gauntlets
Probably make in Lahore, Pakistan
1800-1820
Steel, with gold decoration and textile lining
These gauntlets belonged to Bhai Maharaj Singh,
a distinguished military and spiritual leader
during the Anglo Sikh Wars from 1845-49.
He became a hero to Indians of all faiths
for his resistance to British control of the Punjab.
The Deputy Commissioner said ‘he is to the natives
what Jesus was to the most zealous of christians’.
In 1849, the British deported him to Singapore
where he died in solitary confinement in 1856.
In 1855, Earl Egerton , a collector of armour
obtained the gauntlets by unrecorded means
from Bhai Maharaj’s disciple Khurruck Singh.
Earl Egerton bequest 1910.15.9
Object Name
arm-guard (bazuband)
Creators Name
Date Created
1803
Dimensions
whole object: 50cm x 10.5cm
accession number
1910.15.9
Collection Group
Place of creation
Lahore
Medium
Credit
Bequeathed by Earl Egerton
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