The Darya Daulat Bagh

This painting by an Indian artist was probably made for the British market in India and shows the interior of Tipu Sultan's summer palace. In the background are soldiers in 'tiger-marked' uniforms, reflecting Tipu Sultan's lifelong obsession with the animal. It was his emblem of state, and the British came to know him as 'The Tiger of Mysore'. The V&A houses a mechanical organ ('Tippoo's Tiger') that once belonged to him. It is in the form of a European being mauled by a tiger.