Collections

The V&A hold about 200 items from Afghanistan, and although none of these are on display, you can see a handful of them online.

The vast majority of these items date from the 19th century, and include arms, ammunition, textiles and jewellery.  Throughout the late Victorian period the British were intermittently trying to gain control of Afghanistan. Some of the arms are dated very precisely between 1878 - 80 - that is, the time of the Second Afghan War. A hexagonal wooden panel with floral arabesques is said to have been taken from the gateway of Ghuzni during the First Afghan war around 1842.

There are three Buddhist sculptures from Hadda. There are also a couple of early items that are specifically Islamic, one is a late 12th or early 13th century buckler with inscriptions calling for God's blessing.

Textiles include embroidered items, a 19th century burkha, clothing items made from leather. One of the most recent acquisitions are two 1993 Paul Smith suits, made of a patchwork of textiles from Afghanistan. The V&A have a small number of Afghan objects on display online including textiles, drawings and paintings. There's also a medieval drinking jug - dated 866 in the Muslim calendar, and inscribed with poetry. You can find more about all of these by clicking the link below.

Some Afghan objects from the V&A