AUCTIONS IMPERIAL NOVEMBER 2022 ARMS & ARMOR
Lot 225:
Description
The iconic hilt of octagonal section developing into a massive, hooked pommel said to represent a dogs head, covered in finely-figured shell with contrasting panels of pearl and inset corals and framed in elaborately engraved silver. The brass guard with three quillons, each terminating in a bead set with a coral, and a recurved knucklebow, the whole engraved, with remains of gilding. The blade of distinctive form, Ottoman work, robust, hollowground and expanding into a long, substantial yelman or back edge at the tip. Inscribed on either side with Quranic quotations in fine thuluth and inlaid in silver on each side, comprising Sura 11 verse 88: IN HIM I TRUST AND UNTO HIM I TURN and Sura 27 verse 30: LO! IT IS FROM SULEIMAN! Together with the Bismillah, IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL! In its leather-covered wooden scabbard with pierced and engraved silver suspension bands and openwork leather chape lined with velvet, its textile locket bound with gilt copper braid and leather sling embroidered with silk floss and silver mounts pierced and engraved en suite with the scabbard mounts. Late 17th-early 18th century. Minor worming to grip shell, losses to silver inlay in blade, scabbard and belt rubbed and worn, belt with period repairs. Overall length 77.5cm. For quite similar see Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of George C. Stone, 1935, Accession Number: 36.25.1550a, b.
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