Made For Maharajas.

Made For Maharajas

Amin Jaffer

The Vendome Press

1334 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021

Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (distributor)

115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011

0865651744, $65.00 www.abramsbooks.com 1-800-759-0190

Dr. Amin Jaffer is a curator in the Asian Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London where he specializes in Indian art and culture during the era of European influence during the British Raj period (1857-1947). With "Made For Maharajas: A Design Diary Of Princely India", Dr. Amin has compiled with narrative commentary an impressive historical overview of art and luxury goods in all manner of media and associated with the aristocracy of the maharajas during these centuries. Superbly illustrated with 290 images (150 of which are in full color), the representative and custom-made artifacts range from private airplanes and luxury cars, to chandeliers, gold dinnerware, couture fashions, fine leather goods, houses, furniture, jewelry, and more. Dr. Amin drew upon the archives of firms that included Louis Vuitton, Boucheron, Chaumet, Cartier, and Hermies, he had access to palace and private collections, and employing his own extensive expertise, has written a text that is as entertaining as it is informative in revealing the extraordinarily varied works commissioned by princes whose personal wealth was exceeded only by their eccentricities. As an impeccable work of scholarship in a coffee-table art book format, "Made For Maharajas" is especially recommended for academic library collections and would make a superb choice as a community library Memorial Fund acquisition.