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Lot Essay
Mughal sources make frequent references to the presentation of daggers with jade hilts to favoured individuals at court. Paintings of Mughal Emperors in the first half of the eighteenth century often depict them with jewelled jade hilts tucked into their cummerbunds. A Mughal painting dating from circa 1713-19 in the David Collection in Copenhagen depicts the Emperor Farrukhsiyar with a pistol-grip gem-set dagger tucked into his sash, bestowing a jewel to a nobleman (acc.no. 26/1982, illus. Stronge, 2015, fig.3, p.12).
The precious stones finely inlaid into the hard-jade hilt of this dagger are a testament to the artistic expression and technical excellence of craftsmen in Mughal India. The delicate pale green of the jade is highlighted in contrast to the bright colours of the inlay. The hilt with its curved pommel, known as a pistol-grip, is a form which Bashir Mohamed suggests appeared in India in the second half of the 17th century (Mohamed, 2007, p.201).
The precious stones finely inlaid into the hard-jade hilt of this dagger are a testament to the artistic expression and technical excellence of craftsmen in Mughal India. The delicate pale green of the jade is highlighted in contrast to the bright colours of the inlay. The hilt with its curved pommel, known as a pistol-grip, is a form which Bashir Mohamed suggests appeared in India in the second half of the 17th century (Mohamed, 2007, p.201).