The royal Sikh court at Lahore was undoubtedly 19th-century India's most magnificent. At its heart lay one of the greatest treasure collections the world had ever seen. Maharaja Ranjit Singh's spectacular treasury or toshakhana housed objects that are today the prized possessions of some of the world's most famous public collections - the Koh-i-Noor diamond (British Crown Jewels) and his golden throne (Victoria iAlbert Museum) are perhaps the most well known.
The East India Company's annexation of Punjab and capture of the toshakhana in 1849 saw a large volume of armour, weapons, manuscripts, jewels and other precious artefacts brought to Britain. Focusing on the dispersal of these treasures, Collecting Sikh examines the facets of Sikh material culture, highlighting the fascinating stories accrued by these objects in their journey from the palaces and shrines of Punjab to the imperial exhibitions and aristocratic collections of Victorian Britain, and most recently to a global Sikh diaspora hungry to reclaim its lost heritage.
