Made for Maharajas a Design Diary of Princely India by Amin Jaffer Hardcover

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Made for Maharajas A Design Diary of Princely India By Amin Jaffer and Martand Singh.Large hardcover coffee table book 2006.Great … more Made for Maharajas A Design Diary of Princely India By Amin Jaffer and Martand Singh.Large hardcover coffee table book 2006.Great condition.Brings together a range of works made for Indian princes by western artistsIndian royalty's passion for western luxury goods reached its peak at the height of the British Raj (1857-1947) as Indian rulers traveled to Europe and began to model their lives along western lines. Commissioning architects to design palaces in modern or historic styles, purchasing fleets of cars, and ordering their family jewels to be reset by the most skilled European goldsmiths, Indian princes established themselves as the new creative patrons of European high design.Based equally in the archives of firms such as Louis Vuitton, Boucheron, Chaumet and Hermès, and in palace and private collections, this book explores the role of maharajas in an age of high spending and fashion. It brings together original designs with surviving objects, exploring for the first time the creative dialogue between Indian princes and the skilled tradesmen who produced wonders for their delectation. Married to the objects themselves are the absorbing and often humourous accounts of how maharajas indulged their tastes with unparalleled extravagance and aplomb.
Made for Maharajas book by Amin Jaffer. The Indian princes of the British Raj lived lives of unparalleled opulence and luxury. Made for Maharajas returns readers to that resplendent era, presenting a selection of one-of-a-kind objects crafted to order by the outstanding European luxury goods manufacturers, fashion houses, and decorators of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here are the custom-designed cars, jewelry, and extraordinary objéts d’art commissioned by maharajas, nawabs, nizams, and sultans from Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Harry Winston, and others, accompanied by anecdotes that illuminate this sumptuous way of life. Many of the illustrations in this book have never been previously reproduced outside of India, making this not only the first volume of its kind, but a remarkable keepsake that may never be duplicated in our lifetime. This volume explores the role of maharajas in this age of high spending and fashion. It brings together original designs with surviving objects, exploring for the first time the creative dialogue between Indian princes and the skilled tradesmen who produced wonders for their delectation. Amin Jaffer is a curator in the department of Asian Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he specializes in Indian art in the age of European influence. Jaffer lectures frequently in Europe, America, and India and contributes regularly to journals and newspapers. Title Made for Maharajas: A Design Diary of Princely India Author Amin Jaffer Edition illustrated Publisher New Holland, 2006 Length 275 pages This is a beautiful large coffee table Art book.
* Publisher ‏ : ‎ Roli Books (September 1, 2006)
* Language ‏ : ‎ English
* Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 276 pages
* Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.34 x 1.43 x 11.8 inches
About the author: Dr Amin Jaffer is Senior Curator of The Al Thani Collection. For thirteen years a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum and for ten years International Director of Asian Art at Christie's, Jaffer authored Furniture from British India and Ceylon (V&A, 2001), Luxury Goods from India (V&A, 2002) and Made for Maharajas: a design diary of Princely India (2006). Jaffer was co-curator of the V&A's blockbuster 2004 exhibition Encounters: the meeting of Asia and Europe, 1500-1800, which explored the artistic and cultural encounter between Europe and Asia following the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and Maharaja: the Splendour of India's Royal Courts, which opened at the V&A in 2009. He has edited Beyond Extravagance: A Royal Collection of Gems and Jewels (2013), co-curated the exhibition From the Great Mughals to the Maharajas: Jewels from The Al Thani Collection at the Grand Palais, Paris (2017) and curated the exhibition Treasures of the Mughals and the Maharajas: The Al Thani Collection at the Doge's Palace, Venice (2017). less