Elephant howdah cloth, 1790 (c)

This cloth was reputedly owned by Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. It was obtained by a British soldier following the fall of Tipu's capital of Seringapatam at the end of the 4th Mysore War (1799). The 'Tiger of Mysore' was a renowned Indian war leader. A skilled tactician and innovator, Tipu embraced western methods alongside traditional Indian weapons like war elephants to ensure that his forces could overwhelm his Indian rivals and match the British armies sent against him. His final defeat and death at Seringapatam removed one of the main blocks to the British conquest of the Indian sub-continent.