Islamic Arts 23 Islamic Arts Diary by Lucien de Guise


BURNING BRIGHTER Te subject of southern India seems to be attracting more interest at the moment, most of it directed towards the Mysore sultanate. Tipu Sultan (1751-1799) in particular has become a firm favourite at auction and in exhibitions. Most of the excitement has been generated outside India. In his homeland, Tipu Sultan has become as unpopular as the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It was conspicuous that at the recent, dazzling exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum there was no mention of the ‘fourth’ great Mughal. Te Great Mughals was a wonderful show that would have pleased India’s ruling party as the three featured emperors did not include the bad boy of the family. Tese days, all the Mughals are imperatores non grata anyway. In the south, especially, it is Tipu Sultan and his father Haider Ali who have gone from heroes of the independence movement to barely tolerated. An exhibition that is trying to


right some wrong perceptions is happening at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. It is probably the largest exhibition on the subject ever to be staged, mostly because few important exhibits have come to the market until the past decade or two. Since the looting of Srirangapatna, in 1799, Britain has been home to the finest of these works. Fortunately it has been a benevolent custodian, more generous to their leading foe in Asia after his death than during his lifetime. Te military and often noble families who acquired these works two centuries ago have looked after them. Now they can be seen in the same place for the first time since the spoils were divided. According to the ‘prize’ system that prevailed, the


Installation view of the exhibition with the Powis Castle cannons back in Asia


A distinctive cloth helmet of the Mysore sultanate, with a more sold inlaid-metal noseguard


senior officers received by far the most, and their descendants have taken good care of them. Te definitive expression of the


reawakened enthusiasm is More than a Day as a Tiger: Te Legacy of Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore (1761-1799). Not only does it feature the largest range of artefacts, but it also comes with the most comprehensive catalogue. Guest writers from across the world have brought their different specialisations to the common goal of giving a broad perspective on the contentious two-ruler dynasty. Among the exhibition’s most


visible displays is a pair of bronze cannons. Tese were acquired from descendants of Clive of India, whose family still live at Powis Castle in Wales. Most of the huge collection that is housed with great care is the product not of Robert Clive, but of


MULTIPLE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST


By coincidence, one of the works on display at the Tipu Sultan exhibition was previously collected by the Dubai-based Farjam Foundation. Tis wide-ranging entity has lately been more engaged in exhibitions such as Shifting Gazes: Women Trough Middle Eastern Eyes, which explores representations of women in the ever-shifting visual landscape of the Middle East. Spanning more than eight decades of artistic output, this selection brings together 27 works by artists from the region, both male and female. From the reworking of old


photographs to bold contemporary interventions in pop culture, sculpture and digital media, these works challenge stereotypes and open up a dialogue about identity, memory, resilience and resistance. Instead of offering a single narrative, ‘Shifting Gazes’ invites viewers to reflect on multiple perspectives and cultural constructions of womanhood. Who gets to define the female image in art? How do artists subvert or reinterpret these portrayals? And what new roles are women beginning to occupy? With four thematic sections that cover everything from Identity and


Visibility to Social Commentary and Critique, the exhibition positions the female figure as both a mirror of social transformation and a force of cultural agency. Curated by Amir Arvand, this exhibition seeks answers to questions that have been asked more frequently in recent decades. It also highlights the diversity of voices shaping the cultural fabric of the Middle East. Te location of the exhibition is at Gate Avenue, DIFC, Dubai, and ends on 15 October. Te Farjam Foundation is also one of the sponsors of a very different


The ‘Qajar series’ of photographs by Shadi Ghadirian feature prominently within the Farjam Collection


the Farjam Foundation in Dubai. Tis is the first major exhibition in


the US dedicated to this influential modern art movement from Iraq. It is also the first to give full context to a defining chapter in Arab modern and contemporary art. Te Baghdad Modern Art Group was formed after a period of phenomenal change and growth in Iraq following liberation from British rule in 1932. Artists began a crucial negotiation between postcolonial national consciousness and a growing spirit of modernism. Spanning works from 1946 to


exhibition taking place in an entirely different location, but ending at roughly the same time (19 October). Te Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies in New York State is showing All Manner of Experiments: Legacies of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, a collaboration with leading institutions and private collections worldwide. Tese include the Barjeel Art Foundation (Sharjah), the Dalloul Art Foundation (Beirut), the Ibrahimi Collection (Baghdad/ Amman), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (Doha), and of course


2023, ‘All Manner of Experiments’ examines the relationships within the Baghdad Modern Art Group,


including teacher-student dynamics, aesthetic experiments, and the contributions of less well-known members. Te exhibition is organised into a series of experimental narratives that demonstrate membership in the group as not a fixed process, but a flow of people and ideas held together by a common impetus toward material innovation and aesthetic exploration. Featured artists include some of


Orchard (1962) by Lorna Selim, on loan from the Ibrahimi Collection Baghdad, Iraq - Amman, Jordan


the most famous names in modern Arab art: Faraj Abbu, Mohammed Himat Ali, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, Dia al-Azzawi, Rasoul Alwan, Shakir Hassan Al Said, Khalil al-Ward, Qahtan Awni, Bogus Bablanian, Amar Dawod, Ismail Fattah, Ghassan Ghaib, Mohammed Ghani Hikmat, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Fouad Jihad, Ardash Kakafian, Hanaa Malallah, Mahmoud Obaidi, Widad al-Orfali, Suad al-Attar, Khalid al-Rahal, Miran al-Saadi, Mahmoud Sabri, Naziha Selim, Nazar Salim (Nizar Selim), Jewad Selim, Lorna Selim, Kareem Risan, Walid Siti, and Nazar Yahya. All of whom should be an eye-opener in the US right now, although sadly the exhibition is in Annandale-on- Hudson, not New York City.


ASIAN ART | OCTOBER 2025


his daughter-in-law Lady Henrietta Clive. She was among the most determined female collectors of her day, going to India to acquire more than had already been bestowed on the family. Te cannons had, until recently, been at the front entrance of the castle since the fall of the last dynasty that had tried to thwart British ambitions in the Subcontinent. Te ruler who died fighting for this cause was Tipu Sultan. Te ‘Tiger of Mysore’ had long been Britain’s bogeyman – an eastern counterpart to Napoleon in the west. Te two were allies in their hatred of the British. If Admiral Nelson had not defeated the French in Egypt, Napoleon’s next stop would have been Mysore. Both rulers failed, and Tipu almost


fulfilled his destiny when he declared ‘better to live a day as a tiger than a hundred years as a sheep’. Te consequences for his collectables were more serious than for Napoleon’s, which had largely been looted from other countries anyway. Tipu’s treasures were made in Mysore and then dispersed by the victors of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars. Te owners of such wares could


proclaim their part in empire building. Weapons were the most popular collectables – and the Mysore sultanate had produced many. It was also British policy to prevent a cult of martyrdom around


the fallen ruler in his homeland. As a result, the British authorities auctioned or handed out as prizes of war the entire contents of Tipu’s palaces. Trophies that could not be removed in one piece, such as Mysore’s legendary jewel-encrusted throne, were taken apart to ensure fair shares. A few items were handed over to the Hindu royal family which had been usurped by the Muslim dynasty of Tipu Sultan and his father. In more recent times, the most


authoritative and obsessive collector was not royal, noble, or connected to India. Robin Wigington was an aficionado based in Stratford-upon- Avon, where he accumulated an astonishing number of Tipu’s weapons. His collection was sold by Sotheby’s in May 2005. Going beyond the cosseted world of weapons kept in cotton wool, he would fire a cannon from his house – which backed onto the river – to mark Tipu’s birthday every 1 December. Two hundred years before, it had been Tipu’s death that was celebrated across the land. Ten 4 May (date of his death) became a time of jubilation in Britain, accompanied by fascination with a ruler who came close to beating the British Empire before it even got going. Living proof of his villainy was ‘Tippoo’s Tiger’, an almost life-size automaton of a tiger devouring a red-coated soldier. Tis can still be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum, although visitors can no longer crank the handle and listen to the wailings of the tiger’s victim. Tis is one of the few significant


items not on view at the new exhibition. Te aim is to let the artefacts do the talking, which they do eloquently. Te weapons, in particular, are remarkable not only for their aesthetics but also for their


The most expensive weapon ever sold at auction, the ‘Bedchamber Sword’ that Tipu Sultan kept by his side as he slept


Two silver pistol hilts of Tipu Sultan, in the form of his favourite feline


• More than a Day as a Tiger: The Legacy of Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore (1761-1799), at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, until 11 January 2026


ingenuity. Tipu Sultan was more than a determined general. His father was the true military man, while the son was a polymath. His interest in fields as different as poetry and rocket technology is clear from his creations and from the fine library that he created, which was not scattered to the winds in the way that his other belongings were. Most of his literary collection is in the British Library, which houses one of the few remarkable pieces of Tipu memorabilia that did not make its way to Malaysia. His Book of Dreams was ahead of its time in terms of dream analysis, but too precious to leave the UK.


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