Gifts of Grandeur: The Empress of India Gold Writing Desk, 1887

Writing Case
Presented to Queen Victoria, Empress of India
on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee, 1887
The Royal Collection
Crown Copyright
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
On loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum since 1926

Gifts and declarations of loyalty, made by Queen Victoria’s subjects, were not unusual.  She was, after all, Queen as well as Empress of India.  But during her jubilee years—1887 (Golden) and 1897 (Diamond), the gifts were more than plentiful.

Gifts to the Queen from India often took the form of caskets constructed of precious materials. These items were usually only ornamental.  This one, however, is actually useful.  And, she did, in fact, use it as a writing box.

The lap desk of solid ivory contains a hand-written address relating the donor's intention to build a bridge over the river Kali Nandi at Sidpur.  It also includes an explanatory key useful in deciphering the 39 miniatures which  dorn  the casket.  The box was presented by the Rais, or nobleman, of Chhatari, a town formerly in the Bulandshahr District of the United Provinces.

The ivory miniatures mounted on the box are framed with silver.  The case also has silver corner pieces and mounts. The miniatures all depict famous Mughal monuments, scenes from Delhi, India-- such as the Clock Tower in Chandni Chowk--or monuments of the Muslim world outside the Mughal empire.

This magnificent piece has been on loan to the V&A from the Royal Collection since 1926 when it was removed from the Queen’s summer residence of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.