Artist Talk: What the Seal Concealed

Artist/researcher Saba Qizilbash follows the fascinating journey of an 18th-century messenger bag to the collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

The small red gauze bag ornamented with gold lace lies in one of the drawers and contained an intercepted letter of Tippo Saib’s Sultan of Mysore with the seal of his father Hyder Ali attached. Saba describes how this mysterious object links with her contemporary art practice.