Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets
A SWORD (CUTLASS) WITH SHAGREEN HILT AND SILVER MOUNTS AND SCABBARD, INDIA, OUDH, PROBABLY LUCKNOW, 19TH CENTURY
Auction Closed
June 10, 06:00 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A SWORD (CUTLASS) WITH SHAGREEN HILT AND SILVER MOUNTS AND SCABBARD, INDIA, OUDH, PROBABLY LUCKNOW, 19TH CENTURY
the slightly curved watered steel blade with swollen tip, the hilt set with chiselled silver animal form pommel, sinuous knuckle-bow and flattened guard with shark skin grip, the scabbard and locket with silver mounts chiselled with Oudh coat of arms and Persian numerals inscribed near the border, two hanging rings, edge of blade inlaid in gold with three small numbers
sword: 66cm.
in scabbard: 68cm.
R. Hales, Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour: a Lifetime's Passion, London, 2013, p.184, no.437.
The ancient emblem of paired fish in the centre of the coat of arms on this piece evokes one of the Ashtamangala (the eight auspicious sign of Buddhism) representing happiness and utility. Though the heraldic achievement was strictly a European device, the court painter Robert Home was commissioned in 1819 to design the first Oudh coat of arms for the coronation of Ghazi al-Din Haidar. While the first design had a lion and a tiger as the supporting animals, several variations followed, such as a pair of mermaids during the reign of Wajid Ali Shah. The blade’s shape has its origins in the short swords or nimcha carried by Arab merchant sailors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.