Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets
AN OTTOMAN GEM-SET JADE-HILTED DAGGER AND SCABBARD, DATED 991 AH/1583 AD, TURKEY, 16TH CENTURY AND LATER
Auction Closed
June 10, 06:00 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
AN OTTOMAN GEM-SET JADE-HILTED DAGGER AND SCABBARD, DATED 991 AH/1583 AD, TURKEY, 16TH CENTURY AND LATER
the narrow tapering steel blade chiselled with an openwork design of scrolling split-palmettes decorated with overlaid gold tendrils, the forte with a gem-set palmette, the dark green jade hilt inlaid with gold split-palmettes, floral gem-set pommel, the hilt decorated ensuite with gold strapwork and inscription in relief terminating in a foliate openwork gem-set chape
(2)
29cm.
Sotheby’s London, 24 October 2007, lot 270.
inscriptions
On the blade: 'The work of 'Ibrat, the year 991 AH (1583 AD)'.
On the scabbard: 'Allah, Muhammad, Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, Ali'.
For a dagger with a similarly inlaid jade hilt in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, see Masterpieces of Islamic Art in the Hermitage Museum, Kuwait, 1990, p.30, no.86. The inlay on the hilt is typical of the workmanship of the hakkakin in Ottoman Turkey of the sixteenth century. The same style of gold inlay can be seen on a jade cup in the Musée du Louvre (MR202). The date on the blade is contemporary with pierced blades of this type which date from the sixteenth century.