LUCKNOW, INDIA, LATE 18TH CENTURY, THE BLADE IRAN, PROBABLY 17TH CENTURY

细节

A MUGHAL SWORD (TULWAR) WITH ENAMELLED HILT AND CHAPE
Lucknow, India, late 18th century, the blade Iran, probably 17th century
The curved watered-steel single-edged blade with motto and maker's name inlaid in gold nasta'lia within cusped cartouches, the silver-gilt hilt with hand guard terminating in a dragon's head and disc pommel, decorated with champlevé translucent and opaque enamels in blue, green, yellow, orange and purple, with various birds amidst foliage, with original tassel, now separated, the original wooden scabbard covered in blue velvet, the chape decorated en suite with the hilt, slight loss of gold inlay on blade, also of enamel to the hilt and chape, velvet worn in places
36in. (91.5cm.) long in scabbard

注意事项

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

拍品专文

The best Indian swords often used Persian blades, and the present one is a very fine watered steel example from Isfahan, its quality suggesting a 17th century date of manufacture. It is inscribed with inlaid gold within two cusped panels, the upper one reading nasr min allah wa fatah qarib "Help from God and Victory is Close at Hand", whilst the lower one reads, in typical self-deprecating style 'amal kalb 'ali isfahani "work of the Dog" of 'Ali at Isfahan. The maker's mark appears in a small square box to the top left of the upper cartouche, and reads va, ha, ba, ra. Another blade with the same signature and maker's mark is illustrated in Alain Jacob, Les armes blanches du monde islamique, Paris, 1985, p.160.
Apart from the handguard, terminating in a dragon's head, the form and decoration of the hilt compare closely to one in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, illustrated in David Alexander, The Arts of War, Oxford 1992, no.130, pp.196-7. In his catalogue entry for it Alexander explains that this style of enamelling- polychrome against a partly gilt ground- is said to be from Lucknow, rather than white ground, which was used at Jaipur. He also gives details of two other examples of comparable swords, one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv.no.36.25.1302) and another in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection in Madrid (inv.no.K.120). The other face of the Khalili hilt is published in The Indian Heritage: Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, London, 1982, no.434, p.134.