The talk explores the fascination among Indian royalty for western luxury goods. This taste reached its peak at the height of the British Raj (1857-1947), when Indian rulers began travelling to Europe and remodelled their lives along western lines. Commissioning architects to design palaces in modern or historic styles, purchasing fleets of cars and ordering their family jewels to be reset by the most skilled London and Paris goldsmiths of the day, Indian princes established themselves as the new creative patrons of European high design. The role of maharajas in an age of high spending and fashion will be discussed. It brings together original designs with surviving objects, exploring for the first time the creative dialogue between Indian princes and the skilled tradesmen who produced wonders for their delectation. Married to the objects themselves are the absorbing and often humourous accounts of how maharajas indulged theirs tastes with unparalleled extravagance and aplomb. Rich in anecdotes and visually splendid the talk brings alive the extraordinary rich, varied, and sometimes implausible works commissioned by princes whose wealth knew no bounds and whose eccentricities were legend.

Dr Amin Jaffer is International Director of Asian Art at Christie's and holds a particular responsibility for developing Christie's brand and business in India and among Indians globally. He specialises in Indian art in the age of European influence. For thirteen years a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Jaffer authored Furniture from British India and Ceylon (V&A, 2001), Luxury Goods from India (V&A, 2002) and Made for Maharajas: a design diary of Princely Indian (2006). Jaffer was co-curator of the V&A's blockbuster 2004 exhibition Encounters: the meeting of Asia and Europe, 1500-1800, which explored the artistic and cultural encounter between Europe and Asia following the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1498. He is external curator for the V&A's current exhibition Maharajas: the Splendour of India's Royal Courts.