THE FRONT DECCAN, 17TH CENTURY; THE BACK OTTOMAN EMPIRE, LATE 15TH AND/OR 16TH CENTURY

This shirt is a fascinating combination of two known types: Ottoman semi-lamellar mail shirts of the late 15th to 16th centuries, and mail shirts incorporating steel plates looted by Anup Singh at Adoni in 1689. Judging by the calligraphic inscriptions on the Ottoman lamellae, the shirt was composed from at least three separate Ottoman armours, as well as taking the four plates at the front from a 17th century Deccani armour. A handful of lamellae are inscribed with stylised kufic letters that bear a close resemblance to those on a semi-lamellar mail shirt formerly in the Oldman/Stone Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (36.25.362). That shirt is inscribed with the St Irene tamgha. David Alexander draws a compelling parallel with early 16th century Iznik ceramics and dates the shirt to the late 15th or 16th centuries (David Alexander, Islamic Arms and Armor, New York, 2015, pp.32-34).

A complete mail shirt looted at Adoni in 1689 is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2000.595).