Received an invitation from 20twentypr to attend a sneak peek of the upcoming exhibition at Asian Civilisations Museum – Treasury of the World.
What exactly is this exhibition all about?
Image courtesy of © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait (LNS 959 J)Treasury of the World is a stunning collection of more than 400 exquisite, jewelled works of art – from household items to ornate necklaces and ceremonial swords – from the glorious era of Mughal-ruled India.
For over 300 years (1526-1858), the Mughals dominated the Indian subcontinent and were renowned for their lavish lifestyle, love of beauty and vast collection of precious objects. Indeed, so astounded was the 17th-century British ambassador Thomas Roe at Emperor Jahangir dressed in all his finery, that he once described the latter as “the treasury of the world”.
There’s more to the introduction, but I’m not going to bore you with that much information. 😀
I’ve not seen those treasure myself, the ACM staff must still be busy unpacking at this time. But from the photos that we were shown, I’m interested to see them with my eyes!
The image you see above, is a Small bottle set with rubies, emeralds and diamond crystals. The entire surface of this bottle is lavishly set with rubies, emeralds and diamonds in gold. Bottles of these size were used for cosmetics? From what we were told, the bottle is really small.. But the artwork should be fantastic! Given the size of the bottle (approx 4.6 x 4 x 1.7cm) but the amount of decoration it had. Tsk tsk! Super rich leh!!
Image courtesy of © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait (LNS 2219 J)
Another photo (treasure I mean) that caught my eye was this! It’s like a 2-headed tiger that meet and kissed each other. The exterior is gem-set with rubies and diamonds, whilst the interior is adorned with champlevé enamelled floral scrolls.
So nice hor? If only I have one to call my own 😀
I’m definitely heading down to take a closer look at these items! Heard that part of the display are actually lost-and-found ones! Those that were lost during the Iraq war in 1995 (I think I got the year right!). So cool!
If you want to find out more, head over to ACM website! :p
Oh yes, the exhibition will be from 12 Feb to 27 June 2010!
Giveaway time!
Alright! Who want to accompany me to the exhibition? I have 5 pairs of tickets to give away! Yes yes FIRST TIME IN HISTORY! A big thankyou to Asian Civilisations Museum & 20twentypr for making this possible!
All you have to do, is to leave a comment with your real name, telling me how this exhibition is interesting to you. I will randomly select 5 winners. Of course, if I think your reason is interesting enough, you get a higher chance of getting chosen (at my own discretion of course)!
Contest ends 6 Feb 2359hrs
=========
I had fun at the event, though we could only see photos of the items. I love the henna on my hand!
