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Lot Essay
This very elegant and realistically carved horse's head dagger, is a fine example of the production of the Mughal court. The earliest reference to a zoomorphic hilt in Mughal art appears in a painting of Jamal Khan Qarawul by Murad, in the Kevorkian Album, dated to circa 1610-15 and published in Stuart Cary Welch et al, The Emperors' Album. Images of Mughal India, New York, 1987, pp.132-33, no.26. As Stuart Cary Welch writes, a look at the Padshahnama reveals that the most common form of dagger worn during the reign of Shah Jahan (1627-58) was the katar, followed closely by the khanjar. Of the khanjars depicted in the manuscript however, there are only very few examples with animal-head hilts. One of the few examples depicted is a horse-headed dagger tucked into the sash of Dara-Shikoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan, in a scene entitled 'The presentation of Prince Dara-Shikoh's wedding gifts', folio 72v (Milo Cleveland Beach and Ebba Koch, King of the World. A Mughal Manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, London, 1997, no.14, pp.46-7).