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A GOLD ICOSAHEDRON BOX FROM THE TREASURY OF TIPU SULTAN TAKEN AFTER THE BATTLE OF SERINGAPATAM, MAY 4TH, 1799, INDIA, 17TH OR 18TH CENTURY
Description
Catalogue Note
PROVENANCE
The box originally contained a rolled manuscript note:
"This twenty-sided gold box was found in the treasury of Tippoo Sahib at the taking of Seringapatam on May 4, 1799, and was given by General Robert Bell of the Honorable E. India Co's Madras Artillery, who was one of the Commissioners of Prizes on that occasion, to his friend Sir Charles Hopkinson, from whom it descended to his Great Nephew Hans William Sotheby, first Husband of Charlotte Cornish, whose second Husband, Ingram Bywater, sometimes Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford, bequeathed it to Charles Francis Bell, a great-grandson of the above mentioned General Robert Bell, December 1914". (N.B. This manuscript was unfortunately lost by the National Gallery of Scotland at the time of its loan to them, but luckily its detail was annotated by them)
EXHIBITED
National Gallery of Scotland, The Tiger and the Thistle. Tipu Sultan and the Scots in India 1760-1800, Edinburgh, 1999, cat. no.68, Pl. 90
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES
Mohammad Moienuddin, Sunset at Srirangapatam. After the Death of Tipu Sultan, New Delhi, 2000, p.133
CATALOGUE NOTE
This gold box in the form of an icosahedron was found in the treasury of Tipu Sultan after the battle of Seringapatam in 1799 when the British Army vanquished the Army of Tipu, who was killed in the battle. At that time it was the right under British law for the Army to take and distribute, as it saw fit, such valuables as had belonged to its defeated opponents. This distribution was arranged by a Committee of Commissioners of Prizes. The icosahedron was distributed as a Prize to Sir Charles Hopkinson by General Robert Bell, one of the Commissioners of Prizes. It descended through his family, largely unstudied, until it was sold in the late 1980s, since when it has undergone careful scrutiny and study, revealing remarkable results.
The box is impossible to date precisely, but is no earlier than the 17th century, and no later than the 18th century. Nothing like it has been discovered in any collection anywhere in the world; it is apparently unique. As Mohammad Moienuddin has commented, "the box exudes an aura of royalty and mysticism." (Moienuddin, op. cit., p. 133)
As a box, we do not know what it was intended to contain. It has been suggested that it was a container for silk threads used for measuring in architectural drawing. In its descent through its English ownership, it was supposed that it might be a dice, or perhaps have some magical significance. That it might have another, far deeper, purpose was simply not considered. In fact, as we will show, this icosahedron box is not simply a beautiful object, but a superb tour de force of Islamic mathematics, the work of a brilliant unknown mathematician. It is possible to conjecture that it was made as a fabulous gift to Tipu, whose profound interest in mathematics is evident from the books recorded in his library.
Each of the twenty sides of the box is inscribed with Arabic numerals of the form in use in Mughal India. The numbers are 11, 20, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, 101, 201, 301, 401, 501, 601, 701, 801, 901 and 202. A considerable amount of research has been devoted to the interpretation of the 20 numbers on this box, which at first appear to be unrelated.
The sum of the numbers on the lid of the box is 3206; the sum of the numbers around the middle is 479; the sum of the numbers on the bottom is 1505; the total sum is 5190. From these four sums, very close approximations to significant mathematical constants can be readily obtained. These results relate to Pi and Pi squared, the Golden Ratio or Phi and Phi squared, as well as the roots of 2, 3 and 5. These approximations are to within a few tenths