HYDERABAD OR KUTCH, INDIA, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

This sumptuous dagger illustrates the exchange between the Arabian peninsula and India. Daggers of this design, which are known as jambiyya (loosely translated as ‘sidearm’), originate from the Arabian peninsula where they indicate tribal affiliation as well as being a social marker; the form of the hilt and sheath is specific to each region. It is reported that members of a Muslim community of Hadhrami Arab descent served in the armies of Deccani rulers. They were referred to as Chaush, a name deriving from the Turkish for military personnel. They also retained very close ties with the Southern Arabian peninsula, their homeland, continuing the Arab practice of wearing the dagger in the waistband.

A number of examples of Indian decorated jambiyyas are known; amongst them this is one of the most opulently decorated of all. A less ornamented example was given by Mahbub Ali Khan, Nizam of Hyderabad, to Edward, Prince of Wales on the prince’s tour of India in 1875-6 (now in the Royal Collection, Windsor, RCIN 11302; Kajal Meghani, Splendours of the Subcontinent, London, 2018, p.130). A closely related dagger, originally from the family of the Nizam of Hyderabad, sold in these Rooms 5 October 2010, lot 43. Another sold more recently as part of the sale Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence, Christie’s New York, 19 June 2019, lot 318.