AN OTTOMAN SWORD

TURKEY, SULTAN SULAYMAN PERIOD, 1522-1566

Details
AN OTTOMAN SWORD
TURKEY, SULTAN SULAYMAN PERIOD, 1522-1566
The gently curving watered steel single-edged blade inlaid on one side with a thuluth inscription in the name of Sultan Sulayman the magnificent flanking an inset depression, further inscriptions in naskh and kufic above, some within a roundel and a shaped cartouche, the spine with further inlaid gold inscriptions, the reverse with an inset roundel, with associated Persian steel quillons and terminal decorated with gold floral damascening, associated steel sheath with steel fittings originally cloth-covered, areas of rubbing and loss of gold decoration and inlay
33¼in. (85cm.) long

Lot Essay

The inscription along the blade reads:
'hadha huam mu'atara hirz sultan Sulayman b. Selim Allah yufazir ladhfar ya'tihu al-zafar'
Nearer the hilt the upper inscription translates 'The work of Hajji Murad [b.] Khushqadam
Below that the roundels with kufic contains the profession of faith surmounted by the naskh invocations 'O God' O Muhammad'.
Beneath the shahada is contained in a roundel.
The cartouche at the base is surmounted by an inscription panel mentioning one of the attributes of God.
The spine has the amuletic word 'baduh' repeated seven times.

The maker Hajji Murad b. Khushqadam was active during the reign of Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent (see Mayer, L.A.: Islamic Armourers and their Works, Geneva, 1962, pp.64-65). His signature can be found on two objects, a scimitar in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (Inv. no. 3647) and a sabre in the Museum für Deutsche Geschichte (Mayer, L.A.: op. cit., pl.XVI).

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