A PAIR OF INDIAN SILVER-MOUNTED THRONE-CHAIRS

This pair of silver-encased throne chairs was intrinsic to the concept of kingship among the Indian princely states during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Such chairs were intended to overshadow conventional furniture in their dimension, ornamentation and material. Silver, of which there is an abundance in India, is considered both pure and purifying, and is mentioned in sacred Hindu texts as a suitable material for the thrones of rulers. Such throne chairs were used at the durbar where maharajas and chiefs of local fiefdoms offered obeisance and tribute, aired grievances and presented petitions. The present examples combine both European form and Indian decoration. The coat of arms, which is inspired by European heraldry, has to date not been identified; it is not illustrated in the authoritative The Princely Armory by Robert Taylor (1902), which lists the coats of arms of the ruling chiefs of India prepared for the Delhi durbar on 1 January 1877. However, there were over 500 such arms devised by the British for the Indian rulers during the time of the Raj.