In Britain, many museums have objects from India that were collected during the colonial period. Today, these museums are tasked with explaining why those objects were taken from India. Surprisingly, the most important museum in Britain containing such objects is in a Welsh castle.
The Clive Museum was set up in 1808 by the Earl of Powis, Edward Clive, inside the Powis Family’s twelfth century castle. Edward Clive came from a “new money” family and gained his title through marriage. His father, Robert Clive, was the infamous soldier of fortune known to many as “Clive of India”. Both father and son lived and worked in India, bringing back to Britain sizeable fortunes and valuable objects. Edward Clive established the museum inside Powis Castle so he could link the Clive family’s colonial exploits with the Powis family’s legacy.
The easiest way to reach Powis Castle and the Clive Museum is by car. You can also take a train to the town of Welshpool, then walk to the castle in about 30 to 40 minutes. From Welshpool Station, head for the High Street and look for the bright yellow “Rikki Lloyd” butcher shop. Directly across the street from it, there’s a road that leads downhill, to a large iron gateway. Walk through the gate and follow the path towards the castle, through the beautiful deer park.
I’m interested in the Clive Museum because it contains objects from the court of Tipu Sultan of Mysore. In 1799, when Edward Clive was working in India as the Governor of Madras, Tipu Sultan was killed in battle by the British. Tipu’s palace was sacked, and much of the loot was carried away to Britain. Treasures from Tipu Sultan’s court are now in museum collections around the world, but because the objects in the Clive Museum were acquired immediately after Tipu’s death, and have been exhibited for over 200 years, they are totally unique.
To enter the museum inside Powis Castle, one first walks through a beautiful courtyard filled with peacocks. At the courtyard’s far end, there is an unusual pair of cannons on either side of a staircase. These cannons are decorated with tigers, the emblem of the Sultanate Kingdom of Mysore. They were most likely seized by the British after Tipu Sultan’s death in May 1799, and given to Edward Clive as trophies.
The most famous object inside the Clive Museum is a gold tiger head decorated with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. It originally decorated Tipu Sultan’s throne, which was broken apart so that the gold and precious stones covering it could be divided up as loot. When Edward Clive’s wife, Henrietta, was presented with the gem-covered tiger head, she lamented that Tipu’s magnificent gold throne had been broken into pieces. Of the six tiger heads that originally decorated Tipu Sultan’s throne, only three of them still exist. The one shown here is in the Clive Museum, while the other two are in the Royal Collections at Windsor Castle and the Al Thani Royal Collection.
The Clive Museum also holds some large oil paintings by artists such as Benjamin West, Thomas Hickey and Nathaniel Dance-Holland. The person who most frequently appears in these paintings is Edward’s father, Robert Clive. One of his portraits is displayed above a fireplace, with an incongruous line-up of South Indian bronze statues of Hindu deities below it. Whilst there’s no written record of how these bronze statues entered the Clive Collection, we do know that in September 1800, Henrietta Clive, Edward’s wife, went to Kumbakonam, the important centre for craftsmanship where these bronze statues are made.
The Clive Museum, along with Powis Castle and Gardens, is today run by the National Trust. Research on the Clive family’s Indian collections at Powis Castle is ongoing and is the key to explaining the various fascinating colonial narratives behind these objects. The National Trust is committed to constructively connecting the museum’s contents with the dealings of Robert and Edward Clive, and to ask what these objects tell us about Britain’s imperial legacy.
Confronting the history behind the Clive Museum is a priority and there are plans to update the museum’s displays. In the meantime, the museum is hosting a video installation by the Welsh-Indian artist, Daniel Trivedy, titled “Tiger in the Castle”. Described as a “playful form of disruption”, Trivedy uses the tiger to symbolise the relationship between his South Asian identity and the castle’s collections. “Tiger in the Castle” runs until 31 May 2024.
Other information:
Adult admission to Powis Castle and Gardens is £15.00
Opening hours are 11 am to 16.00 pm but are subject to change.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/powis-castle-and-garden
* * *
Dr Jennifer Howes is a London-based Art Historian. Her research and writing explores Britain’s colonial past, as revealed by museums and archives. In 2023 she published her third book, The Art of a Corporation: The East India Company as Patron and Collector.
www.jenniferhowes.com