The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Relics of Falaknuma on display

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Relics of Falaknuma on display

Swathi.V

Two Japanese vases with gold-plated engravings kept at State Museum

ROYAL:The two Japanese vases stolen from Falaknuma Palace on display at the State Museum.

HYDERABAD: All those commoners hedged away from the visual splendour of the royal-palace-turned-hotel of Falaknuma still have something to gloat about. A minute fraction of the palace wealth is on display at YSR State Museum in the Public Gardens for anybody to see.

Huge mirror

The two life-size Japanese vases placed on either side of a huge mirror in the Period Room of the Contemporary Arts Pavilion of the museum hark back to their past glory as the Nizam's property and part of the palace grandeur.

Painted with beautiful depiction of Japanese folklore and its auspicious imagery of bamboo leaves, the porcelain vases with gold-plated engravings render the room with a special appeal.

It was by the quirk of fate that the twosome entered the museum during early 1990s. Like many original relics of Falaknuma Palace, the vases were smuggled out of the premises by illegal peddlers with apparent intention of selling them outside the country.

They could not succeed in their mission as the police caught them midway and seized the booty. A case ensued and the court ordered for safe custody of the confiscated property. That was when the government requisitioned the services of the State museum. The precious vases have since been lying incognito in the museum.

P. Chenna Reddy, Director of Archaeology, validated the fact and said the department had been the custodian of the vases for the last 15 to 16 years. “The vases lay for a long time in the strong room and went on display only when the Period Room was put together. There were claims of ownership from the Nizam's Trust but not entertained because the 300-year-old artefacts had not been listed with the department as was the norm,” said the museum officials.

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