A GOLD-DAMASCENED AND WATERED STEEL SWORD (KILIJ) AND SCABBARD
A GOLD-DAMASCENED AND WATERED STEEL SWORD (KILIJ) AND SCABBARD
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A GOLD-DAMASCENED AND WATERED STEEL SWORD (KILIJ) AND SCABBARD

OTTOMAN TURKEY, 19TH CENTURY

Details
A GOLD-DAMASCENED AND WATERED STEEL SWORD (KILIJ) AND SCABBARD
OTTOMAN TURKEY, 19TH CENTURY
The curved blade with long gold-damascened thuluth, the engraved with foliage and palmettes, with horn hilt and quillons worked as facetted bulbs, the purple velvet scabbard with long gilt-silver repoussé mounts
37in. (94cm.) long
Engraved
Along the blade, Qur'an LIX, sura al-hashr, v.23 followed by the Beautiful Names of God (Asma' al-Husna)

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Sara Plumbly
Sara Plumbly

Lot Essay

This kilij’s blade is damascened with v. 23 of sura al-hashr, followed by the fifteen beautiful names of God, eight of which are contained in the last three verses of this sura. Sura al-hashr, the chapter of gathering before banishment or exile, addresses and warns hypocrites, evil-doers and disbelievers of divine reprisal referring to the expulsion of the Medinan Banu al-Nadir from their land after the battle of Uhud in 625 (https://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e291, accessed 04/09/2017).

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