We visit this historical exhibit celebrating a regal culture.
I had the great pleasure of previewing the grand exhibition: Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts at Chicago's prestigious The Field Museum and must admit, I left impressed. Organized by London's Victoria and Albert Museum, the exhibit aims to explore the spectacular world of India's iconic Maharajas by highlighting their roles in India's cultural and political history. The exhibit seeks to take the observer back in time to one of the country's biggest political eras, through the changes of 1700s to the 1940s.
Upon entry into the museum I was greeted by a guard who promptly directed me to the press conference sanctions held outside the Stanley Field Hall. In true Bharata Natyam style, performers from the Kalapriya http://www.kalapriya.org/ Centre for Performing Arts took centre stage and danced for the opening ceremony.
Richard Lariviere, President and C.E.O. of The Field Museum welcomed the media and V.I.P guests which included his Highness, Maharana Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur.
Ruth Ann Gillis, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative and Diversity Officer for Exelon (a lead sponsor) as well as Field Museum Trustee, was the next speaker to take the mike followed by curator and keeper of the Asia collection at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, Anna Jackson. Anna introduced the exhibition as "my baby" and the grand opening "bitter sweet" as this would mark the last time she would be working on the project.
Once the speeches were done, the Stanley Field Hall was opened up to guests to view the exhibit in its entirety and the beautiful artifacts on show.
I opened the double glass doors to find a life sized elephant figure decorated with a silver howdah, which Maharaja's used during their royal procession. Among the hundreds of dazzling artifacts which span over 250years were beautiful portraits of royal figures, restored videos and artwork of royal processions, clothing, jewelry, ceremonial weapons, regalia worn by the royals and other key and quirky possessions such as a golden throne and commissioned Cartier table clock.
My favourite and most memorable pieces of the entire exhibit were the nearly 24-foot-long painting of a procession that covered an entire wall and of course, every girl's dream, the masterpiece Patiala necklace by Cartier which originally contained 2,930 diamonds (including the yellow 234.69-carat DeBeers diamond.
As I walked from one priceless artifact to another I became keenly aware of the larger-than-life, historic royal opulence in India during that timeframe. A quote from the Museum's release rang in my mind, "The word maharaja¸ or 'great king' forges images of a turbaned, bejeweled ruler with absolute authority and incredible wealth yet fails to do justice to the complex role of the Maharaja in the cultural and political history of India"; this I could clearly see now.
The exhibition chronologically showcases the decline of the Mughal Empire to the rise of the British colonization ending with India's independence and the inevitable collapse of British rule.
This historical regal showcase is open to the public now and will run from October 17, 2012 through February 3, 2013.
Location: The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496
Phone Numbers: 312.922.9410 (General Field Museum Information)
For more details visit: http://fieldmuseum.org
Image courtesy of The Fields Museum
Sources: maharaja.fieldmuseum.org, exeloncorp.org, udaipurtimes.com, and www.vam.ac.uk/
Monika Bhondy
Author
Monika Bhondy (@monikabhondy) is one of the original editors at ANOKHI. She wore many hats through the developmental years including creating the first Holiday Gift Guide as The Style Editor, putting down the first building blocks of ANOKHI's global blog community, handling the video department and ...
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