A SET of 24 paintings, which depict Tipu Sultan’s victory over the British at the Battle of Pollilur in 1780, were sold by Sotheby’s in London for £769,250, including buyer’s premium, on Wednesday.
The paintings, which were estimated to sell for between £650,000 and £800,000, were auctioned as part of the Arts of the Islamic World sale.
The Tipu paintings, which were in Seringapatam until 1799 when Tipu Sultan was killed, are likely to have been produced by an Indian artist after the battle fought during the Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-1784).
After the battle, Tipu had commissioned a mural to commemorate his father’s victory and it was installed in the Daria Daulat Palace in Seringapatam in 1784. The mural and the set of paintings auctioned on Wednesday in London by Sotheby’s depict Tipu and Haider Ali, wearing royal garments, riding elephants and surrounded by their army, French mercenaries and the Maratha troops, ready to face the British Army, which was crushed in the battle, one of the worst defeats of the East Indian Company at the time.
More Tipu-related items will be auctioned in London on Thursday: A second gem-encrusted gold finial from the Tiger of Mysore’s octagonal golden throne will be auctioned by Bonhams in London. It is estimated it will sell for £200,000-£300,000.
The Bonhams auction will also have a contemporary eyewitness account of the Siege of Seringapatam and the death of Tipu Sultan on sale for £10,000-£15,000. The 24-page handwritten account from Seringapatam is by Captain Benjamin Sydenham in form of a letter dated May 25 1799 to George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney.
Among other Indian objects at the Sotheby’s sale, an Indo-Portuguese ivory inlaid wood chest from Malabar coast was sold for £241,250. The deep chest inlaid throughout with a fine lattice of ivory fillets was estimated to sell for £200,000-£300,000.
An 18th century Mughal gem-set jade-hilted dagger from India, estimated at £20,000-£25,000, sold for almost three times its price at £61,250. The jade hilt had kundan work on it and was set with emeralds, rubies and table-cut diamonds.
The 17th century Mughal painted and dyed floorspread from Golconda, measuring approximately 500 cm square, was sold for £109,250. The floorspread, which had once been in the collection of the Amber Palace, Jaipur, was estimated to sell for £100,000–£150,000.