(From top) The Quila House in Patna City, a four-poster bed used by the successor of Napoleon Bonaparte and Chinese plates displayed on the walls in the main hall. Pictures by Sachin

Patna, Dec. 24: Amid the antique artefact and furniture stands a broken chair which has a special story to tell.

“Forgetting in his enthusiasm that most things around him were priceless artefact, Jawaharlal Nehru, during his visit to the house, climbed on an antique chair to look at an old clock. He lost balance and the chair broke. The broken chair today holds a place of pride in the collection,” says the man guiding the visitors through the rare collection at Quila House.

Located in theheart of old Patna, one of the most congested areas in the capital, the palatial Quila House houses over 10,000 ancient artefact, all part famous historic tales.

The Quila Houe itself is a part of history as it nestled on the ramparts of what was once Sher Shah Suri’s fort which the Afghan ruler built on his return from an expedition to Bengal in 1541.

The traffic snarls and noisy lanes leading to the house might prolong your travel time, but once there, the building welcomes you into the arms of history, national and international.

You may not be allowed to rest on it, but it’s still fascinating to see the bed which once belonged to Napoleon III of France (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and his successor). Dinner plates once used by French Queen Mary Antoinette, Mughul Emperors Humayun and Akbar’s swords and Louis XV and Louis XVI furniture adorn the hall which the Jalans, the owners of Quila House, call their “drawing room”.

The Ganga flows very close to the building as if gracing the timeless and ageless beauty treasured by the Jalans for over 91 years.

It was perhaps as much for the historical significance of the house as for his passion to collect antiques that the late Diwan Bahadur Radhakrishna Jalan bought Quila House (now also called Jalan House) in 1919 from the Nawab of Gaya who had fallen on bad days.

The Diwan Bahadur is no more, but his family has put in all efforts and dedication — even at times of great financial difficulty – into maintaining the collection of the patriarch who travelled across the globe for decades to collect the priceless treasures.

The Jalans, a business family, do not like publicity and the collection is not open to the general public. However, those who are interested in taking a look at the collection can take a prior appointment for

the same.

The collection is a rich and elegant reflection of a bygone era. There’s King George III's Crown Derby dinner service, specially commissioned in uncharacteristically bright shades of blue, red and gold as the king was losing eyesight.

Ming and Ching dynasty chinaware, Moghul period tiles with ‘Ayats’ of Quran, a table covered in Persian tile, Tipu Sultan’s palanquin, Peruvian bull pendant, dating back to 800 BC, ivory statutes dating back 200 years, dinner sets belonging to Birbal the other artefact bring the visitors face-to-face with history.

One of the most interesting articles on display is the Celadon plates commissioned by Mughal kings which could detect arsenic in food (one of the plates is cracked, a sign that poisoned food was served on it).

Equally fascinating is the list of famous people who visited the house and enjoyed the hospitality of the Jalans in the delightful guesthouse on the campus, overlooking the Ganga. Viceroys to Jawaharlal Nehru to current generation of politician and Hollywood and Bollywood personalities have all been there at some point of time.

Some enthusiasts have even suggested that the museum be opened to the public.

Aditya Jalan, the scion of the Jalan family who currently looks after the museum, politely but firmly refuses the advice. “How can we open our drawing room to all? Those who are interested are welcome as guests though,” he says. Nehru’s visit to the house is mentioned in his letter to his daughter Indira Gandhi, dated March 3, 1940.

“Apart from politicial work, I visited a very interesting private collection in Patna. It was suprising to find a Marwari businessman with such a passion for art collection. He lives in a lovely house by the riverside and has gathered together many fascinating articles of old Chinese Jade. There are good examples of old Sevresand Gobelins. A part of the dinner service of Marie Antoinette, a writing cabinet of Henry II, King of France, very beautiful Arabic, Persian manuscripts, old German statutes, shawls, a piece of old Dacca muslin ten yards, weighing 7¼ tolas… just imagine the gossamer fineness of it! And so many other things which I hardly had time to see,” Nehru wrote in the letter.

The House also finds mention in the book Travel on My elephant by Mark Shand, brother of Camilla Parker-Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall.

“Is the family not adding anything new to the luminous collection it possesses?”

“This is the work of a man whose appreciation of history was so far ahead of its time. It is our duty to preserve it with the same single-minded devotion. And it will be a real tribute to him if we are able to preserve the collection with the same passion with which he gathered it,” says Aditya and goes back to narrating another historic tale.