Bust Of Sikh King Up For Auction

[GSMANN]

A previously unknown marble bust of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh will soon be on the auctioneers block in London. This stunning piece crafted in Europe in the 19th century is expected to reach $100-140,000 and is redolent of the Duleep Singh sculpture by Royal Academician John Gibson (1790-1866) that fetched a staggering £1.7m in 2007.

With the exception of the Sikh Gurus, Ranjit Singh is probably the best-known figure in Sikh history. The writer Chirsty Campbell describes him as “One of the greatest rulers of Northern India [who] built an empire which stretched almost from the Indian Ocean to the Himalayas.” Short lived, his rule lasted a mere forty years and could hardly survive a further generation, but in the opulent court of the Lion of the Punjab the arts and the sciences prospered.

The Punjab was the flat plain into which invaders, rulers and plunderers swept from the Persia and Afghanistan in search for the riches of the royal courts in Agra and Delhi. Greeks, Christian and Muslim invaders clashed physically and culturally with the predominantly Hindu Punjab over hundreds of years to shape a cultural milieu which was defined by that conflict. Into this mix was born the Sikh faith in the sixteenth century and from that the inimitable Sikh warrior class, the Khalsa, in the final year of the seventeenth century.

For the rest of the story visit:

http://www.punjabheritage.org/material-her...block-1404.html