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Lot Essay
This hilt depicts a serapendiya, a mythical bird from Sinhalese culture. It appears on the pommels of the very earliest piha-kaetta daggers, including examples from the 15th century and earlier (Robert Hales, Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour, no.132, p.63). Over time, hilt designs developed to more elaborate abstract forms, and there are very few extant examples of these first serapendiya hilts. According to De Silva and Wickramasinghe there are five examples in various Sri Lankan museums, with two further in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no.36.25.958a, b, and 36.25.966a–c).
By the 17th century, the finest hilts were made in the four royal workshops (pattal-hatara) of Kandy. The scrolling floral motifs on this dagger hilt resemble those on a dagger taken from Sri Lanka during the Kandyan-Dutch war 1762-1766, now in the Rijksmuseum (acc.no.NG-NM-7114). Even more similar is a dagger which belonged to the Sri Lankan ruler Sri Vickrama Rajasinha (1798-1815), which was taken by the British in a war in 1803. It was returned to Sri Lanka by Queen Elizabeth II, and is today on display in the Sir John Kotalawela Defence Museum, Colombo (illustrated De Silva and Wickramasinghe, Ancient Swords, Daggers, and Knives in Sri Lankan Museums, Colombo, 2007, p.135).
Later examples of the serapendiya motif on Sri Lankan arms include the serapendiya foresight on a flintlock pistol, and an ornate serapendiya design fretted on a dagger hilt (P. E. P. Deraniyagala, Sinhala Weapons and Armour, fig. g, plate II, p. 145). The motif also appears on a Ceylonese ebony cabinet sold at Sotheby’s, 26 October 2022, lot 119.
The present hilt is mounted onto a fitted silver base by the London silversmith J.C. Vickery and hallmarked to 1896, which indicated the hilt was in the United Kingdom by this date at least. J.C. Vickery of Regent Street was founded in 1890 and obtained a large number of Royal Warrants, not just for British royalty but with the Kings and Queens of Spain, Denmark, Sweden amongst others.
By the 17th century, the finest hilts were made in the four royal workshops (pattal-hatara) of Kandy. The scrolling floral motifs on this dagger hilt resemble those on a dagger taken from Sri Lanka during the Kandyan-Dutch war 1762-1766, now in the Rijksmuseum (acc.no.NG-NM-7114). Even more similar is a dagger which belonged to the Sri Lankan ruler Sri Vickrama Rajasinha (1798-1815), which was taken by the British in a war in 1803. It was returned to Sri Lanka by Queen Elizabeth II, and is today on display in the Sir John Kotalawela Defence Museum, Colombo (illustrated De Silva and Wickramasinghe, Ancient Swords, Daggers, and Knives in Sri Lankan Museums, Colombo, 2007, p.135).
Later examples of the serapendiya motif on Sri Lankan arms include the serapendiya foresight on a flintlock pistol, and an ornate serapendiya design fretted on a dagger hilt (P. E. P. Deraniyagala, Sinhala Weapons and Armour, fig. g, plate II, p. 145). The motif also appears on a Ceylonese ebony cabinet sold at Sotheby’s, 26 October 2022, lot 119.
The present hilt is mounted onto a fitted silver base by the London silversmith J.C. Vickery and hallmarked to 1896, which indicated the hilt was in the United Kingdom by this date at least. J.C. Vickery of Regent Street was founded in 1890 and obtained a large number of Royal Warrants, not just for British royalty but with the Kings and Queens of Spain, Denmark, Sweden amongst others.