A Magnificent Dagger (Jambiya) with Ottoman gold-inlaid jade hilt and Safavid watered-steel blade signed by Faizallah Shushtari Isfahani, Persia, circa 1700

the tapering, double-edged watered steel blade with central ridge and raised inscription in shaped cartouches chiselled on both faces at the forte, the light-green jade hilt with waisted facted grip and gold-inlaid split-palmette arabesques, the pommel set with a cabochon ruby, the later velvet-covered wooden scabbard with silver lock and chape chased with foliate design

overall in excellent condition, a small chip to the hilt at one corner of the guard and minor losses of goldinlay, minor rubbing and patination, as viewed.
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inscriptions

On one side: Qur'an, chapter LXI (al-Saff), part of verse 13.

On the other side:

'ya fattah'

'O The Opener [of all doors]!'

Signed as:  'Work of Faizallah Shushtari'

Faizallah Shushtari Isfahani lived and worked in the late 17th/ early 18th century. He is recorded as a master craftsman who learned his trade in Isfahan and who, in the year 1119 AH/1707-8 AD, was commissioned by the Safavid Shah Sultan Husayn (r.1105-35 AH/1694-1722 AD) to make sets of steel door plaques for the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad. A small steel orange and a steel ewer by Faizallah Shushtari were donated by Shah Sultan Husayn to the same shrine as well (see J. Allan, & B. Gilmour, Persian Steel, The Tanavoli Collection, Oxford, 2000, p.101). The steel ewer is worked with inscriptions and cartouches in a markedly similar manner and is signed like the present piece. 

The discovery of this magnificent dagger is an exciting addition to the group of recorded work by the Safavid master craftsman, Faizallah Shushtari, who stands second only to Asadullah amongst the greatest steel-makers of the Safavid age. The fact that he was in the employ of Shah Sultan Husayn suggests that the present piece was most probably a royal commission, as evidenced in the superb watered steel blade and the imperial-quality Ottoman jade hilt.

A full list of Faizallah Shushtari's signed and dated work is recorded by Allan and Gilmour (ibid., pp.524-5), and reproduced here:

1. Two groups of three steel door plaques made by order of Shah Sultan Husayn and dated 1119 AH/1707-8 AD, Museum of the Shrine of Imam Reza, Mashhad.
Published: Persian language guide to the shrine, Mashhad (n. d.), pp.34-5, nos.192-3 and 198.

2. A piece of steel bearing an inscription, undated, Museum of the Shrine of Imam Reza, Mashhad.
Published: Mashhad (n.d.), p.44, no.78.

3. A steel mace inscribed bande-ye shah-e vilayat 'abbas, nasr min allah wa fath qarib, undated, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (acc. no.742-1889).
Published: L.A. Mayer, Islamic Armourers and their work, Geneva, 1962, p.32 and pl.VII.

4. A steel sword, undated, Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay (acc. no.22.3603).
Published: Mayer, op. cit., 1962, p.32 and pl.XVII.

5. A small steel orange, dated 1119 AH/1707-8 AD, Museum of the Shrine of Imam Reza, Mashhad.
Published: Mashhad (n.d.), p.44, no.65.

6. A pair of steel vambraces, dated 1120 AH/1708-9 AD, Royal Armouries, Leeds (acc. no.XXVIA.242-3).

7. A steel ewer made by order of Shah Sultan Husayn and dated 1127 AH/1715 AD, Museum of the Shrine of Imam Reza, Mashhad.
Published: M. Bahrami, Iranian Art. Treasure from the Imperial collections and museums of Iran, New York, 1949, p.21, no.46; L.A. Mayer, Islamic Metalworkers and their work, Geneva, 1959, p.41; Mashhad (n.d.), pp.53-4; S.A. Ardalan and D. Inanlu, A Glimpse at the Central Museum of Astan Quds Razavi, Mashhad, 1988, pp.24-5.

8. A steel helmet dated 1146 AH/1733-4 AD, Tsarkoye Selo Museum, St Petersburg.
Published: Mayer, op. cit., 1962, p.32; Lord Egerton of Tatton, Indian and Oriental Armour, London, 1968, pl.V and p.52.

9. A steel helmet, undated, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc. no.778-18888).
Published: Mayer, op. cit.,1962, p.32, pl.VI.

10. A steel dagger, undated (the present piece).

The gold-inlaid jade hilt can be compared to a dagger with gem-set and gold-inlaid hilt of black nephrite jade in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (inv. no.OR-504), which also bears a Safavid blade (see Masterpieces of Islamic Art in the Hermitage Museum, Kuwait, 1990, no.86, pp.30 and 117; and Elgood 1979, no.65, p.68). Anatoly Ivanov published the latter for the first time in 1979, together with other extant examples of high-quality early Safavid daggers (ibid., pp.64-77), some of which had already been brought to public attention by A.U. Pope in the Survey (Pope & Ackerman 1939, vol.VI, no.1427).

A further dagger hilt of markedly similar form is to be found in the al-Sabah collection, Kuwait (see Art from the Islamic Civilization from The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, Milan, 2010, p.312, no.300). The al-Sabah dagger, which is atrributed to the "imperial Ottoman workshops, second half 16th century", has a matched hilt and scabbard of pale green nephrite jade, gem-set, and inlaid in gold with split-palmette arabesques of near-identical form to our hilt.

The addition of the present dagger to this illustrious group of royal-quality weapons should occasion much excitement amongst academics, museum curators and collectors.