{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O114496"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O114496/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG4482/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG4482/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BG4482","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BG4690","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BG4689","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O114496/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O114496","accessionNumber":"IS.55-2005","objectType":"Pistol","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This flintlock pistol and its pair (IS.56-2005) were made in the royal workshops of Tipu Sultan of Mysore, in South India. The gold Persian inscriptions decorating their steel barrels record that they were made by the leading armourer Sayyid Ma'sum in \"Patan\", referring to the capital, Srirangapatnam, then known to the British as Seringapatam. They are dated 1224  according to Tipu Sultan's idiosyncratic \"Mawludi\" system that begins with the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, rather than according to the conventional Muslim system. To avoid confusion, Mawludi dates are given in reverse order (4221=1224), and 1224 falls between the years 1796 and 1797 AD.\r\nThe pistols were formerly part of the Robin Wigington collection of important weapons  made for Tipu Sultan.\r\n\r\nThe barrels are decorated with Persian verses inlaid in gold praising the ruler and eulogising the State. They also have a gold-inlaid tiger mask similar to those found on several of Tipu Sultan's personal weapons, composed of the Arabic words assadullah al-ghalib (\"The Lion of God is Triumphant\") and their mirror image. The carved wooden stocks have silver mounts chased with flower heads whose petals are in the shape of the tiger stripe found on most of the objects directly associated with Tipu Sultan.\r\n\r\nThe Muslim kingdom of Mysore was founded by Tipu Sultan's father Haider Ali, a soldier of fortune who deposed an ineffectual Hindu raja in 1766. He enlarged the boundaries of Mysore by conquest, and transformed it into a powerful state with an army reorganised on European lines, offering the only serious threat to British expansion in the region. A key element in the success of the Mysore army lay in its use of firearms incorporating the latest European technology, and replacing old-fashioned matchlocks with flintlocks. Mercenaries, predominantly French, were employed at Mysore and by the time Tipu Sultan inherited the throne, must have trained craftsmen such as Sayyid Ma'sum to make perfect imitations. The unique character of Tipu Sultan's weapons is the prolific use of tiger stripes and motifs in their decoration.","physicalDescription":"Silver mounted flintlock pistol with left-hand lock, with tapering steel barrel formed in two stages, and with gold overlaid lines at the breech and muzzle.  Persian verses are overlaid in four panels on the top of the barrel, the two cartouches of the central panels terminating in a gold overlaid tiger calligramme. The walnut full stock is mounted with silver, and there is a silver side plate in tiger-stripe form. The cock is in the form of a tiger stripe terminating in a tiger-head chiselled in the round holding the flint between its jaws.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Sayyid Ma'sum","id":"A15179"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"walnut","id":"AAT12476"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"steel","id":"AAT133751"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Walnut, silver and steel with overlaid gold","categories":[{"text":"Arms & Armour","id":"THES48992"},{"text":"Firearms","id":"THES49007"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006BG4482","2006BG4690","2006BG4689"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES394881"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Pistol","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Mysore","id":"x30900"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1795-1796","earliest":"1795-01-01","latest":"1796-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"IS.56-2005","id":"O114498"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"37.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"140","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"60","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Patan'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Gold-overlaid inscription; refers to place of manufacture, Seringapatam [Srirangapatnam]."},{"content":"'1224'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Gold-overlaid inscription; date of manufacture according to Tipu Sultan's Mawludi system based on the date of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (1795-1796 AD)."},{"content":"assadullah al-ghalib","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"The lion of God is triumphant","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Incorporated into gold-overlaid calligramme in the form of a tiger head"}],"objectHistory":"Made for Tipu Sultan by Sayyid Ma'sum in the royal workshops.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Silver mounted flintlock pistol made for Tipu Sultan by Sayyid Ma'sum, Mysore, 1796-1797","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Robin Wigington, The Firearms of Tipu Sultan 1783-1799, John Taylor Book Ventures, 1992, TR 24, pp. 112-3 and Pl. XIV, p. 30 (far left).  Wigington converts the date on the pistols as 1795-96, but cf J.R. Henderson, The coins of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan, Madras, 1921, p. 10, where he points out that the first Mauludi year of 1215 began in March 1787.\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Jackson, Anna and Jaffer, Amin (eds), with Deepika Ahlawat. <u>Maharaja : the splendour of India's royal courts</u>. London, V&amp;A Publishing, 2009. ISBN.9781851775736 (hbk.), ISBN.1851775730 (hbk.).","id":"AUTH325255"},"details":"Plate 10, page 22","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jackson, Anna:  Arts of Asia, vol. 45, no. 5, South Asia in South Kensington, September-October 2015, p. 64, pl. 3"},{"reference":{"text":"Stronge, Susan, Tipu's Tigers, London: V&A Publishing, 2009 ISBN. 9781851775750","id":"AUTH337013"},"details":"pp.34 and 34, no. 35","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"tigers","id":"x36392"},{"text":"tiger stripes","id":"x36280"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"[Maharaja exhibition] 150\r\nPair of flintlock pistols \r\nSayyid Ma’sum\r\nMysore, 1796–7\r\n\r\nMuch of Tipu’s military success lay in his use of the latest European technology. Instead of old-fashioned matchlocks, he commissioned flintlocks, introduced to his court by French mercenaries in his employ. These weapons bear a distinctive personal symbolism: tiger masks composed of Arabic words meaning ‘The Tiger of God is Triumphant’, and flowers with petals resembling tiger stripes. \r\n\r\nWalnut, silver and steel, overlaid with gold\r\nV&A: IS.55, 56-2005\r\nPurchased with the assistance of The Art Fund [+ Art Fund logo}","date":{"text":"2009","earliest":"2009-01-01","latest":"2009-12-31"}},{"text":"TIPU SULTAN’S PISTOLS\r\nSteel, chiselled and overlaid with gold, and walnut with chased silver mounts\r\nSeringapatam\r\nMade by Sayyid Ma’sum\r\nDated 1224/AD1796-7\n\r\nIS.55, 56-2005\r\nSayyid Ma’sum signed these flintlock pistols and recorded their place of manufacture. He also gave the date, 1224, according to Tipu Sultan’s idiosyncratic calendar called ‘mawludi’. This begins with the birth of the Prophet Muhammad rather than the year of his flight from Mecca to Medina, as in the conventional Muslim calendar. To avoid confusion between the two systems, the digits of mawludi dates were usually written in in reverse order. ","date":{"text":"27/9/2013","earliest":"2013-09-27","latest":"2013-09-27"}}],"partNumbers":["IS.55-2005"],"accessionNumberNum":"55","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":2005,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2020MP2212"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-30","recordCreationDate":"2005-07-27","availableToBook":false}}