What does the Bracelet of an Emperor tell us?
This bracelet belonged to Muhammad Bahādur Shāh (1775-1862), the last monarch of the Mughal Empire (1526-1857) whose political legitimacy was considerably weakened by France and the United Kingdom from the 18th century on. Like his predecessors, the emperor saw his political power confiscated by the English East India Company which paid him a pension. He then reigned only over the Red Fort in Delhi. After the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, Muhammad Bahādur Shāh was deposed by the British. His children and grandchildren were slaughtered and the emperor captured and exiled to Burma where he died in extreme destitution at the age of 87. He gave this bracelet to Captain Charles Fairholme, of the Royal Navy, on the way to exile between Calcutta and Rangoon. During this humiliating voyage, the British officer who accompanied him seems to befriend the defeated emperor. The end of the Indian Empire was nonetheless sealed.
Damien Kunik/MEG
