A rare Mughal gem-set jade-hilted dagger (peshkabz), North West India, 17th-18th century

the tapering curved watered-steel blade with broad flattened back chiselled and overlaid in gold with a pendant palmette, the dark-green jade pistol-grip hilt inlaid with scrolling tendrils of gold issuing floral rosettes, buds and leaves kundun-set with cabochon rubies and cut diamonds, velvet-covered wood scabbard

ex-Collection Robin Wigington, Stratford-upon-Avon, England

In good overall condition, minor patination to blade and small fissure cracks to some of the rubies, scabbard with some fraying to threads, small losses to velvet on scabbard, as viewed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The peshkabz is a form of dagger more prevalent in Afghanistan but which also gained some popularity in northern India. It is typically a weapon with a long single-edged blade tapering to a point and a hilt with no guard. They are known in northern India from examples decorated in mother-of-pearl, one in the Musée Guimet and the other formerly in the collection of Krishna Riboud (inv. no. MA6825, the latter published Paris 1998, p.106, no.33). The decoration of plaques of mother-of-pearl associates these daggers with Gujarat in the seventeenth century.

This dagger, however, is a splendid testament to the long-standing proclivity of Indo-Islamic rulers to jewelled objects, the vast natural resources of the Subcontinent providing the necessary materials to enable this taste to flourish (Moura Carvalho 2010, p.11). The Mughal Empire sat within the areas most noted for the mining of rubies and spinels: Afghanistan, Burma and Sri Lanka (ibid., p.44). These stones were set into the jade using the ancient Indian technique known as kundan with a setting covered in a thin foil of an alloy of silver and pure gold, to reflect the maximum amount of light back through the set stone (ibid., p.39). The trefoil flower motif found along the back-edge of the present dagger's hilt can also be seen on two seventeenth-century daggers in the Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait (see Keene 2001, p.43, no.2.31 and p.127, no.10.5).