ranjitjat
April 19th, 2007, 02:06 PM
Duleep Singh’s bust to be auctioned today
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, April 18
Even as Baba Mohinder Singh , head, UK-based Nishkam Jatha, has reportedly decided to stay away from the auction of the 150-year-old bust of Maharaja Duleep Singh, proposed to be held at New Bond Street Bonhams tomorrow, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) chief expressed hope that ‘come what may, the bust would be brought to India .
Talking to TNS, Daljit Singh Bedi, an assistant secretary with SGPC, claimed that all arrangements had been made to purchase the bust on behalf of Anandpur Sahib Foundation.
After meeting Baba Mohinder Singh in Bonhams, UK-based Sikh scholar and veteran journalist Nirpal Singh Shergill said that Nishkam Sewa Jatha chief had refused to enter into any controversy though he was requested by the SGPC to participate in the proposed auction.
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is the world’s oldest and largest auctioneer of fine art and antiques remaining with British ownership. It has made all necessary arrangements for the open auction of the bust of Maharaja Duleep Singh.
According to Shergill, the bust, 74-cm high in white marbel, was made by British sculptor John Gibson at the end of 1859 in Rome. It remained with Maharaja Duleep Singh till 1893 in Elveden Hall at his Thetford Palace and then till 1926 with Prince Fredrick Duleep Singh at Norton Hall, Norfolk. The bust of the Indian prince and Sikh hero, Maharaja Duleep Singh, is likely to be sold at an estimated sum of £25,000 to £35,000.
Maharaja Duleep Singh, the Maharaja of Lahore and king of the Sikh Empire, was born on September 6, 1838, the son of the legendary ruler of Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, April 18
Even as Baba Mohinder Singh , head, UK-based Nishkam Jatha, has reportedly decided to stay away from the auction of the 150-year-old bust of Maharaja Duleep Singh, proposed to be held at New Bond Street Bonhams tomorrow, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) chief expressed hope that ‘come what may, the bust would be brought to India .
Talking to TNS, Daljit Singh Bedi, an assistant secretary with SGPC, claimed that all arrangements had been made to purchase the bust on behalf of Anandpur Sahib Foundation.
After meeting Baba Mohinder Singh in Bonhams, UK-based Sikh scholar and veteran journalist Nirpal Singh Shergill said that Nishkam Sewa Jatha chief had refused to enter into any controversy though he was requested by the SGPC to participate in the proposed auction.
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is the world’s oldest and largest auctioneer of fine art and antiques remaining with British ownership. It has made all necessary arrangements for the open auction of the bust of Maharaja Duleep Singh.
According to Shergill, the bust, 74-cm high in white marbel, was made by British sculptor John Gibson at the end of 1859 in Rome. It remained with Maharaja Duleep Singh till 1893 in Elveden Hall at his Thetford Palace and then till 1926 with Prince Fredrick Duleep Singh at Norton Hall, Norfolk. The bust of the Indian prince and Sikh hero, Maharaja Duleep Singh, is likely to be sold at an estimated sum of £25,000 to £35,000.
Maharaja Duleep Singh, the Maharaja of Lahore and king of the Sikh Empire, was born on September 6, 1838, the son of the legendary ruler of Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh.