A WATERED-STEEL SUIT OF BODY ARMOUR (CUIRASS)

CENTRAL INDIA, DATED AH 1192/1778-79 AD

Details

A WATERED-STEEL SUIT OF BODY ARMOUR (CUIRASS)
CENTRAL INDIA, DATED AH 1192/1778-79 AD
Composed of a front and rear plate with hinged joints on the sides and at the shoulder, the barrel-shaped chest with slightly raised mid-seam and moulded pectorals, the opening and borders of the hinges with raised cusped band punctuated with hanging palmettes at the base of the neck and on either side of the shoulders, band of cusping around the waist, rear fluted neck guard with cusped rim, engraved inscription in naskh
17¾in. (45.2cm.) high; 44in. (111.7cm.) diam. at maximum

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Lot Essay

Inscription: 'Sarkar Mir Nizam 'Alikhan Bahadur 1192 [1778-1779]'

This body armour or cuirass is of near identical form to another example in the Khalili Collection (inv. MTW 1157, David Alexander, The Arts of War, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Oxford, 1992, no. 108, p. 175). That cuirass shares with ours the same inscription giving the name of the Nizam 'Ali Khan, indicating that these were both at one stage in the armoury of the second Nizam of Hyderabad of the same name (r.1762 - 1803).

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