AN EXTREMELY RARE TURKISH ESTOC with long tapering blade of stiff hollow diamond section, the hilt of silver-gilt, incised with a silversmith's mark and comprising a small flat guard of rectangular shape with clipped corners, large globular pommel and grip of circular section swelling in the centre, engraved throughout in low relief with arabesques and scrolling flowers and plants, including the diantrus and lotus, and profusely set with prominent collets (missing from the guard) containing variously uncut turquoises (two missing) and jade plaques (one missing) encrusted with rubies and emeralds (mostly missing) set in gold inlays forming leaf scrolls, in original wooden scabbard covered with silver-gilt sheet (slight damage) involving collars, a chape terminating in a spirally-reeded knob, and two lockets, the upper one with a single suspension ring, all decorated en suite with the hilt and incised with the same silversmith's mark and a tughra mark, the jade plaques much larger (two of these, most of the encrusted precious stones, and four turquoises missing), late 16th/early 17th Century51¾in.

THE PROPERTY OF A NOBLEMAN

AN EXTREMELY RARE TURKISH ESTOC with long tapering blade of stiff hollow diamond section, the hilt of silver-gilt, incised with a silversmith's mark and comprising a small flat guard of rectangular shape with clipped corners, large globular pommel and grip of circular section swelling in the centre, engraved throughout in low relief with arabesques and scrolling flowers and plants, including the diantrus and lotus, and profusely set with prominent collets (missing from the guard) containing variously uncut turquoises (two missing) and jade plaques (one missing) encrusted with rubies and emeralds (mostly missing) set in gold inlays forming leaf scrolls, in original wooden scabbard covered with silver-gilt sheet (slight damage) involving collars, a chape terminating in a spirally-reeded knob, and two lockets, the upper one with a single suspension ring, all decorated en suite with the hilt and incised with the same silversmith's mark and a tughra mark, the jade plaques much larger (two of these, most of the encrusted precious stones, and four turquoises missing), late 16th/early 17th Century 51¾in.

Details

AN EXTREMELY RARE TURKISH ESTOC with long tapering blade of stiff hollow diamond section, the hilt of silver-gilt, incised with a silversmith's mark and comprising a small flat guard of rectangular shape with clipped corners, large globular pommel and grip of circular section swelling in the centre, engraved throughout in low relief with arabesques and scrolling flowers and plants, including the diantrus and lotus, and profusely set with prominent collets (missing from the guard) containing variously uncut turquoises (two missing) and jade plaques (one missing) encrusted with rubies and emeralds (mostly missing) set in gold inlays forming leaf scrolls, in original wooden scabbard covered with silver-gilt sheet (slight damage) involving collars, a chape terminating in a spirally-reeded knob, and two lockets, the upper one with a single suspension ring, all decorated en suite with the hilt and incised with the same silversmith's mark and a tughra mark, the jade plaques much larger (two of these, most of the encrusted precious stones, and four turquoises missing), late 16th/early 17th Century
51¾in.

Lot Essay

For a very similar estoc, in the Wawel, Cracow, see Z. Zygulski, Bron w Dawnej Polsce, 1975, pl.221. Closely similar decoration also occurs on a mace, a dagger and a sword in the Historiches Museum, Dresden, all dated to the early 17th Century, and a silver incense burner exhibited at Leighton House, London in 1982. See J. Schöbel, Prunkwaffen... aus dem Historischen Museum, Dresden, 1973, pls.172, 173 & 174; Y. Petsopoulos (ed.), Tulips, Arabesques & Turbans: Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, Leighton House, 1982, Cat. No.51

The stamped tughra on the back is not that of the imperial form found on firmans. Although the lower half is missing, it has the required three vertical shafts and the word Sultan and possibly Murad. In that case, it might be a simplified version of the tughra of Murad IV (1623-1640) or of his predecessor Murad III (1574-1595)

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